Capturing Ella
by fishcaked
Summary: Ella's life has always been unorthodox, living a lie for the majority of her childhood. When on holiday in Cornwall, England with her brother's Soulfinder's she finds a secret that will change her life. A few months later, an extreme threat placed against her sends Ella fleeing down to the coast... with the person she never wants to meet and hurt - her Soulfinder. (Long story)
1. Chapter 1 - Joe

_There are a few things I should probably clear up before we get started with this book. This entire book is based off the "Finding Sky" trilogy, written by Joss Stirling and uses the characters that she has created. None of the Benedict family were created or characterised by myself. The main character(s) of this book are an addition to this trilogy. If you don't know what I am on about, please read the "Finding Sky" trilogy, because I might not explain everything very well within this book as I'm going on the assumption people know what it is and don't explain it fully until quite a few chapters in._

 _"Capturing Ella" is written in an alternative universe before Misty Falls happen. Not for any reason other that I planned this before the release and have only just got around to writing it. So whilst the events of Finding Sky, Stealing Phoenix and Seeking Crystal have all happened, the events of Misty Falls and Angel Dares (when I write this pre-note, Angel Dares hasn't been released but it probably will be by the time you read this) haven't happen._

 _This is where it gets a bit hard to follow; Ella Benedict is adopted. Never heard of Ella Benedict? It's because she's my own character. If you want to skip this part and find out what happened in the story, then that's completely understandable and you can! However, if you want the background information here's what happens; When she was born, she was only the Benedict boy's cousin from England. But when she was four she was in a horrific car crash that killed her parents and her five older brothers and sisters. So Saul and Karla adopted Ella (who is genetically their niece – still following?) but when the forensic reports of the car crash come back they find out the car crash was actually an attempted murder attempt on the family and they have to cover the two remaining siblings of the family. They get Victor to alter the minds of everyone in the town to believe that Yves and Ella are non-identical twins despite the age different. Ella is quite a small girl, so even though she was six when Yves was four, everyone believed they were twins. Ella's mental state wasn't quite right and had a major relapse before the start of Kindergarten when she was only six, so they pulled her out of Kindergarten and let her start three years behind school with Zed. Whilst I explained this terribly, it will be explained better within chapters where relevant – but even though she's 20/21 in this, she had only just graduated High school. Also, the one brother that survived the crash with Ella is Michael, who is also in this book._

 _Also whilst I have done as much research as I can on the laws of England and America, I still don't know everything. But legal age in England is 18 to drink. On that note, I don't condemn people getting drunk illegally and in that one chapter where some characters do drink, it is completely legal. Please don't break the law._

 _Quite a few people have also messaged me asking how I am going to write from two different perspectives – and honestly I don't know yet. But from the few chapters at various points in the un-chronological order, it seems there is a distinct different. The chapters from Joe's POV when Ella is involved is quite speech-based, in comparison to Ella's POV when Joe is involved (especially when they first meet) it's very wordy and psychological based._

 _Talking of psychology, please note that mental illness is a theme in this book and can be mentioned. I understand that it can be quite triggering for some readers so I will put major triggering chapters in warnings at the beginnings. Primarily within this book, anxiety is a key thing for Ella and the way she reacts and it's based on my friends (and my own) anxiety and the way I react in certain situations._

 _This part is also an apology; some chapters can be short (like, 800 words? I mean, this is currently 600 words – seems odd) and some chapters will be long (i'm on about 8000. It's happened before – I binge write, I'm so sorry.) so I might split the longer chapters up into parts but put them up within the hour of the first part. Also to mention; the first few chapters are a bit scene setting, but it will get a bit better._

 _Also; another thing when I was planning was about the way genetics would work and how everything would work based on sexuality and I couldn't think there was a define reason why the Soulfinder relationships would be limited to boy-girl and male-female so bisexuality is also a thing that certain characters mention._

 _That's all for now – Enjoy! :)_

 **Chapter 1 – Joe**

 _March, 2015_

The bread knife hung perilously between the shoulder blades of my best friend, the tip of said knife causing a slight dimple in the muscles next to the spine. Suspended in the air, I frowned at the knife for a second or two until I could feel the weight of the stainless steel blade in my mind and had to remind myself to stay in control.

Well, I guess this was the literal interpretation of backstabbing.

'Now, if you wouldn't mind stabbing me,' Jason said impatiently. The twenty year old stood in the middle of my parent's kitchen with just a pair of swimming trunks on and in the international gesture showing that he isn't armed. I almost found it amusing he stood with his hands above his head, but still continued to egg me on. I continued to stare at the knife, feeling my control of it waiver in and out as my mind wandered. Is it stupid that I'm twenty and still live at home? Don't get me wrong, my parents are hardly ever here as they work at the incoherent hours at night but I still live with them. I've lived in this house for as long as I can remember - it's just my childhood house. A small five bedroom house located on the outskirts of the nearest town with only a few houses around us. As the youngest child, I always had my own bedroom compared to my older siblings. The room we were currently in had little to no change from moving day over fifteen years ago. The room was rectangular, with double patio doors looking across the garden and further onto the green fields behind our house that we used to play on. Counters filled three sides of the room, only breaking for the door. My parents when choosing the colour scheme had gone light and modern, with a light oak finish on the cupboards and white marble tops which has since been stained in some places and cluttered with utensils. On the fourth wall was a built in sofa and a table, with six more chairs around the other sides. With a big family comes a big dining arrangement. However, since my brothers and sisters were older than me, a six year age gap between me and the next brother out, everyone had flown the nest... apart from me. Not for long, though. At the end of August, I was moving into my own small flat a few miles away from here. What could go wrong in the mean time?

Even Jason had moved out at the age of eighteen when he went to university. In fact, all of my friends went to university, in pursue of a career that required a degree in God knows what and a heavy debt which many will never repay. I knew what I wanted to do as a career for ages now, from when I was little. What I wanted to do was pretty simple; I wanted to stop people using their Savant gifts for criminal reasons. When I was younger, my oldest sister Carly told me to picture our family as undercover superheroes. We all had various gifts, or "powers" as she used to call them, and we can do what we want with me. They are ours to keep. However, some people misuse theirs and use them for bad. Of course when Carly explained this to me I was six, so the crimes she told me peoples gifts were used for was theft and muggings. Our family was devoted to stopping them, but at the age of six I was too young. To be fair, at the age of six I was already losing control of my gifts and was in the deep end.

Let's just say my parents didn't catch on to what my gift was until it was far too late.

I had started mainstream infant school, and was sat in my year 1 class alone. I was bullied because I was different. Please read "different" as "a mess". I was overweight and didn't have much in the good looks department. My teeth were wonky and sticking out and I was called "Beaver-teeth" for several years. But I used to always love drawing and reading – but when you're six and prefer to sit at the painting table with the girls rather than play with the Playmobil cars; you are always going to be the laughing stock of the class. I was okay with that, though, because it meant I stay to myself – something my family always told me I must. I always kept a guard up because that's what my older brothers and sisters do, and keep my little superpower inside in brain. That was until one reading time.

The class of thirty all sat down on the floor together, as the teacher held up the book we were reading. Today it was the "Very Hungry Caterpillar". The teacher read through page by page and I was so interested in the fruits that the caterpillar was eating that suddenly everyone in the room stopped. The teacher looked at me with slight horror before calling the head teacher. I was taken into a room, with my parents to one side of me and the teacher to the other completely confused. What had I done? I didn't do anything but all the kids ran from me screaming that I was a stranger and "stranger danger!" but I have always been in the class.

In that meeting, the teacher protested she had never seen be before, and I was a new student and I just crept into the class – even though I was six – and the head teacher kept telling the teacher I have been at this school for three years. Eventually, my parents said they're withdrawing me from that school and into another school in the district because they didn't like the way I was treated within that meeting. Real story; my gift had started to play up and it wasn't safe for me to be here anymore. I think that was when my parent's realised I had a gift that was unique and wasn't as common. Effectively, I can alter mind patterns. I can change the way people look at things as easily as people can clap. I can make them stop thinking about certain things, or completely remove something for their brain. That is what I did with the entire class – I managed to remove myself from thirty kids and three teacher's memories because I loved "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" book too much.

That night, Carly, the joint eldest in the family sat me down and told me about the gift I have and how it is a very good gift and I should never look down at it and that my gift can help so many people. And since then, I wanted to be able to help people. When my naivety fell away when I realised Savant's don't just use their gifts for crime – but for something much more serious. It can be from anything for kidnapping to murder. My gift could help find out the truth from the criminal but also help soothe the victims. After the whole Hungry Caterpillar incident, we moved down south into Berkshire where my parents got some jobs. However, about an hour down the road the Government had set up a new branch of the secret service – another complete section. The English Government prefers to work in branches, so in the whole stopping criminal section there were several different branches including M.I.5 as well was M.I.6, but also Maui – the new criminal prevent section for people who are Savant's. You see, Savant's are born with the genetic build up that is different compare to everyone else meaning they have unique gifts and could do things that normal people can only dream of. However, the minimum age they accept for safety reasons was 21. So whilst I had been working under my brother's supervision since I was sixteen, I had to wait until my 20th birthday nearly ten months ago to start the recruitment process. Thankfully, because I started earlier and the two brothers up from me – Jake and Quinn – both worked there, I was accepted 6 months before my 21st. So whilst my friends have graduated from university in hope there's a career out there, I already had mine lined up and had started a few weeks ago. But until that flat because available, I was still living at home.

I focused back on the knife against my best friends back, realising I must have been daydreaming for a good five minutes whilst he remained frozen, knowing any move would stab him straight in the back. The knife I had chosen for this was a bread knife, long and thin with serrated edges. I could see each edge vividly, some were getting blunt from use but the tip of the knife still held promise.

Could I do it? Could I stab my best friend in the back? Sure I could. Anyone could. I've known Jason since we were six, and I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I wish I could have stabbed him. He was cocky, loud, and arrogant. This would be an ideal solution to cure his narrow-minded ways. But no, I couldn't. I gently pulled the blade away from his back before watching it clatter to the floor.

'Knew you wouldn't stab me!' Jason said, turning around smiling. I pulled a face at him, tightening the cord on my swimming shorts. It was a warm August, and as most of the buildings in England were building mid-Victorian they all lacked air conditioning. Jason and I had decided to spend today at the local swimming pool before we both had to into work at 3 this afternoon. I look back at Jason, shooting him a dodgy look. 'You're such a wuss,' he simply said.

'I'm a wuss for not stabbing you?' I asked.

'Yeah, you always say you want to stab me but when you had the chance - you didn't!' He said, picking up his shirt from the side counter and refolding it up again.

'I meant it metaphorically,'

"Well, I was just testing you then," I rolled my eyes. Jason will graduated from university with a 2:1 degree in Criminal science, and ever since then he's been closely examining me. He's been watching to see if my work has affected my mental state. So far; nothing. But nothing major has happened in the three months I've been working for the probation period. I'm sure that'll change now I've finished probation and actually work there; it's just a matter of time.

'Anything?' I retorted, telekinetically opening the fridge and getting out a bottle of water.

'Apart from your evidential laziness, no.' Jason got up and walked to the fridge to get his own bottle of water. Jason wasn't a Savant, even though he wanted to be. I was the opposite; a Savant who just wanted to be normal. Savant's are rare and are you are meant to be honoured that you are gifted with such talented minds that can perform all aspects of ESP. But... that not how it works. By being a Savant you are confined to the rules of camouflage. You must remain hidden and quiet about your gifts or you'll piss off quite a few agencies out there. You should either use your gifts for good or for nothing. Not only that, you're doomed to being single too!

Every Savant is born with a Soulfinder, who'll light up his or her world accordingly. They are genetically dispositional to be together - their gifts will be stronger together and their love undeniable. Sounds wonderful in theory, and I'm a massive sucker for the whole romance thing and I'm not afraid to admit it even though Jason says it ruins my "man" image. There's nothing more I want then me to be sitting with my Soulfinder, me play with her (or his, there have been a few stories passed around when people realise they are bisexual as their Soulfinder is of the same gender) hair one night as they fall asleep slowly. There's also nothing more I want then one night to sit my child on my lap and read them bedtime stories as my Soulfinder sits next to me, smiling. That's the dream. But I accepted it long ago that it probably won't happen. The chances of someone finding their Soulfinder is near enough zero and there are no ways of narrowing it down. Sucks to be us all the time.

'You are going to that race thing today, then?' Jason asked as I grabbed my bottle of water from the table, walking to the front door. The "race thing" Jason was on about was Race for Life, a female only charity run to raise money for Cancer Research UK. This year, the majority of the females who work at Maui decided to form a team together and run the muddy obstacle version of the course in fancy dress. My only sister, and joint eldest Carly, said she'd do it and persuaded our sister in law, Leannah, to join in. Sure enough, them two as well as nearly forty others all signed up together finding it hilarious at the time. As time approached, Leannah fell pregnant and three weeks ago gave birth to two twin girls, my nieces. Jake has been attempting to persuade her to sit it out but too little avail. I have been called along to help him babysit the twins and support them in their run. Honestly, I was looking forward to it - it was bound to be a good laugh. Forty of the most serious ladies in such a highly secretive jobs running 5km through mud and through an obstacle course in stupid costumes were something I wouldn't miss.

'Yeah, could be interesting. I think Jake is picking me up in about two hours or something,' I said.

'We better go swimming now, then.'

Nows probably a good time to mention: I can't swim. Okay, I can swim I'm just not a confident swimmer and cannot swim for very long. Thankfully as I was over six foot tall, I could stand in the six foot section in tip toes and appear like I was swimming. I never liked going swimming, scared that I would drown but thankfully I never went to the ocean. Honestly, I only ever went to a beach when I was four and when you're that young armbands are acceptable. I'm not too sure if they do armbands and lifesaver rings in adult sizes. I just hope I'll never end up near a beach and I'm forced to swim for quite a while – and I would only appear in the ocean with my kid in the very shallows and even then I doubt I could pull that off.

'Alright, get out then.' I said, basically forcing him out the front door. I knew my parents weren't due home until tomorrow morning earliest, and so was I. Today was probably the business day of my social life so far. The Race for Life the girls were doing was in the early afternoon, then not only that there was a party that everyone in Maui was expected to come too. It was the talk of the base for the last three weeks. I needn't bring the key to the house swimming, and just telekinetically locked the door and set the alarm as the door closed, and both of us headed down the street towards the public swimming pool.

It's weird living in England. I mean, when we visited family in America a few summer's back, there were public outdoor swimming pools in every town and it was common. However, when England has an outdoor swimming pool in one of the newest parts of town it was seemed as a joke, with England only having a week and a half of days that would be warm enough to use the pool. That's it. Ten days out of 365. Not a good investment, I would say. However, Jason likes to use the pool and sees it as a good place to pick up girls, and it would probably be safer if I was there to stop him.

We walk, gently talking about stupid things for nearly ten minutes to see the pool was completely empty.

'Damn, no picking up any hot chicks today, then.' Jason said, pulling a face before jumping into the water splashing me on the side. I frowned at him, rolling my eyes as I sat down on the edge of the pool with just my calves in the water.

'Doesn't bother me.' I mumbled, but Jason managed to hear.

'Nah, you're too busy dreaming about your dream girl or guy, there is no shaming, aren't you?' He asked, before starting to swim lengths as I sat there wondering what he meant behind the comments. He knew the likelihood of a Savant finding their Soulfinder, and how slim it was to actually find your partner. But he and I both knew that the whole settling down with the one person you can truly love was something I couldn't wait to have but we both knew the chances of it happen was very slim indeed. I had little to no hope when it comes to these things. When I was younger, I never came first in the annual poetry competition my school held, or the art competitions. I never picked the winning raffle ticket in tombola, and I most definitely didn't have my way when it came to strategy games. I had what some of the "lads" in my years called wuss-syndrome. I say "lads" I correctively mean assholes. At the age of eighteen, they just wanted to get drunk every weekend and have wreck less one night stands with no commitment and relationships. When I was eighteen, I stayed in all night studying or looking at criminal cases. Now, a few months off my twenty first – when all my friends are still getting pissed night after night, or married and have kids of their own, all I want is to meet my Soulfinder.

But some things are just childhood dreams.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ella

Chapter 2 – Ella

I was agitated all night – more than usual. I mean, I am getting fairly used to the amount of flying I was doing recently, but I was more panicked now for the flight to England than I was to any other destination. Why? It was a tricky one to solve and I could only guess it was because there was no leading figure going for myself, no rules to follow. And the last time I didn't have a set of rules to follow, well, it ended up with a very low point in my life. It had only just turned three in the morning, and everyone else in the house was asleep. I didn't even have anyone I could talk too, so I had to keep my anxious thoughts to myself.

I pushed myself up off the bed and walked over to my completely packed suitcase, reading through the list I had attached to the front of the suitcase. I had listed precisely what I was bringing, and ticked it off when it was folded neatly and packed. I knew I had everything in my suitcase and this was the fifth check of the night so far – and considering I went upstairs at half eleven when everyone else was asleep and it's about half three now, that's quite a few checks. I was panicking for no reason. Well, I say no reason. I mean, there was a very big reason.

A few nights ago, I was asked to look after one of my baby cousins – Sophia. I willingly accepted, having got to that stage in my life where I was probably a bit too young to have a child myself (and not to mention single as Hell) but was very maternal. Not only that, Crystal was at my family house at that time. So it was me, her and little baby Sophia.

'You're a natural with kids,' Crystal jokes, petting my head. I hushed her as Sophia was still restless and wasn't properly asleep yet. Five minutes or so later, I replied.

'Nah, she was just tired.' I whispered.

'Please don't hate me, Ella –' Crystal started, and I immediately turned to her and pulled a face. I knew exactly where that was going, so I stood up and put Sophia back in her travel cot in the hallway, tucking her in with no loose blankets before walking back into the lounge where Crystal sat expectantly, closing the door.

'I told you not too.' I said to her, sitting down on the armchair.

'But why not? Why don't you want to know who you're Soulfinder is?' She asked me, and I shot evils at her. She wouldn't understand. I don't think anyone would understand apart from me. I didn't want to know who my Soulfinder was because, quite simply, I would ruin him.

'I just, don't want to know him.' I said, hoping to end the conversation.

'But that's the weird thing, Ella, you already know him.' Crystal said, and I looked over at her frowning. Most of the guys I knew my age were absolute insensitive tits. 'You already know him; you're good friends with his brothers and sister. I mean, he works with Michael –'

I screw up a piece of paper in my hands, throwing it in the trash can across the room. Michael was my brother. My actual biological brother, that is. You see when I was just a toddler I was in a horrific car crash in England in the travel period between Christmas and Boxing day and the New Year. The two cars that carried my family to the airport were hit by a cargo lorry that was driving the wrong way up the motorway. We were on the way to the airport to head over to Colorado to visit the Benedict's. They were my cousins at the time of the crash. My Mum was Saul's sister, so we were coming over to celebrate the New Year. Although, we never made it to the airport. The time the flight departed from airport, with nine empty seats where we had booked. The only place my family went was to the morgue. Both of my parents and five of my brothers and sisters had died in that car crash. Only myself and Michael had survived. I was a medical wreck, but Michael only had a few broken bones and a punctured lung so he was adopted by other Uncle and Aunt (Savant families are huge, bare that in mind) whilst I remained in hospital in a medical coma, the reports came out about the crash and they found out it was a murder attempt and they had plans to come and kill me and then Michael once he settled down, so we had to cut each other out of our lives. We had to make up lies to cover ourselves so no one could find us. Michael and I never spoke to each other for 6 years. I was adopted by the Benedict's and even took on their last name. We had to make up another lie as to how I was related to the family. Vick came up with the idea of saying me and Yves, the second youngest in the Benedict family were twins. At the time, it was plausible. Even though I was two years older than Yves, we were the same height. He was tall for his age; I was very small for my age. We had the same shade of blonde hair, and were both above average intellect for Kindergarten age So Vick used his gift to persuade everyone who had known the family that Yves and I were twins. Ironic, as my birth name was meant to be Yasmina-Eleanor. Thankfully, my parents decided it was a bit too wordy and went for Eleanor instead. However, the day before we were meant to start Kindergarten, I had a massive mental breakdown and started hallucinating about the crash again. I was forced to stay off school for another year and managed to enter school three years behind my own age group. So I went into Kindergarten with Zed. Ever since I was adopted nearly fifteen years ago, the Benedict's are my family and will always be my brothers or my parents. There's no questioning about it. I trust them all with my life and we get on well as well.

When I was ten, and Michael was twelve, we started talking again and not long after we were inseparable. He started working as part of the secret service branch of the English Government that is designed for Savant's at the age of fourteen, and I was also invited to start. So I did – I did the cases I wanted to do in America, sending the paperwork over to England and it worked fine. Three of four times a year I fly back over to England – sometimes with family, sometimes by myself – and do some more cases when I'm there. Honestly, I love it. You get the freedom to do what you want when you want on whatever cases you pick that you are suitable for. I also work for the FBI alongside Vick, and that's where the issues start. Vick and I don't get on well. He likes to see the evidence that his cases are moving along swiftly and consistently and he doesn't believe in what I can do to be effective.

I can read people's body language and facial expressions. It's not my Savant gift, granted, but it's something I've always been able to do. I could tell in Kindergarten when someone was lying based on their facial expression – and not just the kids. No, kids are easy work. I could tell when teachers were lying to me. I always knew Santa didn't exist. I can pick up on micro expressions that are demonstrated for less than one fifteenth of a second and expressions people make in investigations by the involuntary contractions of muscles. I am more effective than a polygraph – and I am also more portable than one too. That's what I do when I'm at the Maui headquarters – the base of the Secret Service that the Government runs for Savant's. Despite it being names after the second largest Hawaii island, it's actually located in Guildford, England. When I'm working at the base, I can conduct interviews and just watch people in the interviews – watch them lie and watch them tell the truth. However, I only get on with a few people at the base – the others show false emotion and lie to me when they say 'It's nice to finally meet you,'

'Who are his brothers?' I asked Crystal, and she smiled thinking I was coming around to the idea of meeting my Soulfinder. Instead, I was just curious as to how I know family and not him.

'Jake, Quinn and Carly Matthews?' Crystal said and I nodded. I knew the three really well, but (fortunately) had never met their brother my age. 'You do know them?' she asked when I rolled my eyes.

'Yeah, Carly has taken me out shopping and to coffee quite a few times when I come over. I know Jake and Quinn better though. I've been working with them for like nine year or since I started. They've pulled quite a few favours for me... they're nice.' I said tentatively. Correction, they were lovely.

'Their brother is probably nice as well.'

'Might be.'

'You might want to consider hooking up.' She said, and I shook my head. I knew the reasons why I said I never want to meet my Soulfinder. I would ruin him and if he was as lovely as his brothers were I never wanted to risk it. For his sake, I don't want to meet him or for him to ever find out. It was just to protect him.

And that's why I think Crystal was so willing to take this trip to England. Crystal's gift was bloody rare in the Savant one and one so high in demand - she was a Soulseeker. She could find your Soulfinder for you. Four months ago she found out this gift at age 19 and has almost been pressured into finding everyones soulmates. I was probably the first person she had come across unwilling to meet their Soulfinder. Crystal that night desperately tried to persuade me to at least meet up with him but I wasn't willing too.

I flicked through the completed notepad on my desk I had compiled off all the different muscle combination and what they mean. It was fairly impressive what you can learn from watching people.

Fifteen minutes later I sentenced myself to no sleep and decided to go downstairs to get a drink. Slowly, I walked out of my bedroom pulling the door closed behind me and down the first flight of stairs, creeking every step of the way. The way this house was designed meant the two bedrooms where me and my yougest brother, Zed, slept were right at the top of the house. The first floor had the other bedrooms and a study and a bathroom, and at the other end the flight of stairs to go down. Because we had a really early flight today, the girls - Sky, Phee and Crystal - all stayed around so we could leave here at 6 to reach the airport for 7:45 for our 9am flight. Only I did early mornings thanks to insomnia.

The only lasting illness of the crash was my shitty mental health. As a toddler I had severe PTSD and freaked out in a car when it was either in snow or ice or someone didn't have their seatbelt on or they sped. Not only that, I had frequent night terrors that made me make up unsocial hours of the night quietly sobbing. Directly below my room was Uriel's room who was just a teenager when all of this happened but he still used to come and comfort me as a kid until I stopped crying. However as i grew up, thankfully I grew out of my PTSD and night terrors. I instead grew into anxiety, depression and insomnia. So I had days where I didn't care and felt hollow and wanted to die and I had days where I was so twitchy I couldn't go outside. And I could only sleep for maybe an hour and a half max. Too right, I am the most fun at a party. My nights were spent doing work before taking Cotton for an early morning run.

I manged to walk down the stairs silently, jumping the floorboards that made the noise before walking into the kitchen, the only sound cue to give me away was the weird noise bare feet make on linoleum floor.

'I thought you'd be awake, Ella.' Dad said behind me and I jumped. Saul was never up this late (or early, depends on which way you look at it) unless something was on his mind. I pulled out the chair opposite of him at the kitchen table.

'Couldn't sleep,' I simply said. Dad nodded, and I noticed the look of concern on his face. 'I'm fine, don't worry.'

'I don't think it's healthy to function on 90 minutes sleep.' He said, picking his words carefully. I looked at the table so I couldn't read his expression.

'Eh, I'm still working,' I joked, looking up at him smiling. He just looked concerned again. A muscle in his upper right cheek twitched. Concealed fear.

'You said that to me two nights before you overdosed,' Dad whispered and my heart dropped. I never thought of the effect my attempted suicide when I was fourteen would have on the family and I hated seeing how they mention it now. They all were so affected by it and I would never do it again.

'I won't do something that stupid again, Dad, you know I won't. I was in a really bad place then. I'm okay now.' I whispered fighting back tears.

'Promise?'

'Promise.'

'You know, you look so much like your Mum - Karilyn that is. Not Karla. Karilyn.' Saul whispered her name, stirring his now cold coffee. The crash still affected us both. I nodded.

'You say that a lot.' I mumbled.

'I only ever see it at night, during the day you are just so... bubbly. There's such a contrast. Anyway, early morning tomorrow for us all. You going back upstairs?' Saul asked, and I hesitated for a second. There was always a social debate I had to work on. When at this time in the morning I was up in my room I felt locked away and continued to get more agitated, but If I was downstairs I had to creep around so not to wake anyone up. Normally, I stayed awake in my room for the sake of my brother's but tonight I couldn't do it. So much was playing on my mind that sleep wasn't even appetising, and I felt so sick I needed to get out and get air.

'Am I allowed to go down the pool?' I asked, and Saul just nodded, telekinetically passing the keys to the swim school to me.

'I trust you – just don't turn the machinery on. I'll see you in the morning, sweetheart.' And with that, Saul got up and kissed the top of my head, hugging me tightly, then walked back upstairs to sleep. I sat still for another ten minutes, making sure no one was morning around before I got off and stripped down, taking off my PJ's and leaving them in a pile on the table before hesitating. I was due to do the early morning tests on the pool's system; I left both my swimsuit and bikini down here.

Here's the thing – I was skinny. I ate shitty food and was a massive fan of KFC and McDonalds, but because I am up all hours of the night and drink more than I eat, my metabolism is all messed up and never slows down for the night so I'm skinny. However, I hated myself and my body. I was covered in ugly, distorted scars and I considered myself hideous. I normally only wore a bikini if it was a good day or I had a wetsuit over the top. Today was not a good day, so I grabbed my one piece swimsuit and wiggled into it. Grabbing the keys, I walked out the front door, locking it behind me and went to head down to the swim school in just my swimsuit.

'You'll freeze if you're not careful,' I heard the voice behind me said and I jumped. I quickly turned around to see Zed standing behind me, looking extremely concerned.

'What are you doing up?' I whispered.

'Couldn't sleep.' He simply said, and threw me a basketball. Catching it off reflex, I looked back over at him with an arched eyebrow. 'Put your clothes back on and we'll rematch from early. No way am I letting you take my basketball title.' He joked.


	3. Chapter 3 - Ella

**Chapter 3 – Ella**

'No cheating this time, promise?' Zed asked me about ten minutes later, when I put on a baggy shirt and my pyjama shorts again. He looked very serious for once, and as I tiled my head I noticed he was concerned. I love my brothers, and they love me, but they never get this concerned when I'm outside in near freezing temperature in shorts. The shit part of my gift is that I can make ice – the complete opposite of Yves gift. Whilst he can make fire, and things catch alight I can just make a snowstorm or an ice lolly. I'm like a shitty, dry-humoured sarcastic version of Elsa but minus the charm. But because of this, it means my temperature can wildly fluctuate between the normal 37 degrees centigrade and anything below. Diagnosis of hypothermia starts when the core body temperature drops below 35 degrees – so according to that I get hypothermia at least twice a week. It's not healthy, correct, but I've learnt how to notice the symptoms prior to the hypothermia attacks and how to treat it. I know using my proper gift for a long time or exertion will trigger these hypothermia symptoms so I say I "avoid unsafe usage" what I really do is use my gift, just when there is hot chocolate available and blankets. Lots and lots of blankets.

My gift is very rare in the Savant community, and is the only one of its kind on the Net. The main gift I have is the ability to project outside of my body. Imagine an out of body experience, but being in control the entire time and being able to see and hear whatever you want, wherever you want all under your control. That's me – I can do that. I was very good at tests, where I could leave me notes all over my bed then project back into my bedroom during the test and get the answers. When I left school, my grades were in the top percentile. Not only that, I can also hear telepathy. A massive pain when I live in a house full of Savant's, and especially when their Soulfinder's around. I get quite bad headaches at family reunions too. I'm kind of well known in Savant circles for being "the girl with everyone's gifts", because not only do I have four of my own gifts, I've also managed to find out a way to knick others gifts too. So with my projection gift, the ability to freeze random shit and hearing telepathy – I can combine them all to get into other people's brains and find out how to use their gifts. It sounds cool but believes me – it sucks.

I focused back on Zed, realising he was waiting for me to reply

'I didn't cheat last time.'

'El, you're five foot and that hoop –' He gestured to the basketball hoop on the garden wall, 'is over six foot seven. There is no way you can jump that high. You cheated.' He accused, walking to roughly centre of the pitch. When all the family comes over, there's normally an interesting game of four-a-side basketball.

'I can jump relatively high. Also, throwing the ball helps.' I retorted back, standing opposite him.

'Sure,'

'No, really. Look.' I grabbed the ball out of his hand and threw it straight into the hoop. 'See, I can throw!'

He jogged over to get the ball, running his hands throw his already tousled hair. It wasn't like Zed to be up this early. Honestly, it wasn't like Zed to be out of bed this early in the morning – from the fading looks of the stars overheard, it was turning half three – unless something was on his mind.

'Are you going to tell me what's up, then?' I asked, as we continued the game of basketball.

'Nothing is wrong.' He said, and I frowned at him. He immediately looked me in the eye and I saw his eyebrows raise slightly, the muscle in between twitching as he tried to keep a straight face. I also noticed his back hunch slightly and the way he moved out to the right which had more space. He almost retreated from the conversation.

'You're such a crap liar, your face and body gave that one away. I don't need to be Sky to see when you lie, kid.' I told him.

'What did I do, then?' He asked, holding the ball.

'Your forehead contracted and you had strong eye contact. I know you; you only look me in the eyes when something's worrying you or you are convincing me you didn't eat the cupcakes. Not only that, you hunched in and moved to the right. The right of you has more space than the left, so you moved to get away, not moved to get more intimidating. You stepped back on your haunches, too. Retreating. You're trying to get a way – clearly a lie.' I explained, and he pulled a stupid approving face.

'Impressive. Fine, something is up.' He admitted, sitting on the floor. I copied him. I raised my eyebrow as if you let him continue.

'When you're in England, you're staying with Michael, aren't you? You and Phee are staying with him whilst Crystal and Sky go see family, right?'

'Yeah?'

'But there's a few days where you're all free so you were gunna go to base, right?'

'I'll make sure Sky won't get dragged in and she won't get on any cases that will harm her, Zed. You know I won't.' I realised where this was going. Zed hated revealing the messy side of our jobs in the FBI to Sky, and whilst she's been involved its more been from afar, spotting the lies whilst I've been in the room spotting them too. Zed nodded.

'You'll make sure she's safe?'

'Of course I would, you moron.' I simply said, and he laughed slightly, tracing his finger around the pattern of the ball.

'Will you be safe with your Soulfinder?' He joked, and I shot him the dirtiest look.

'I knew you'd get involved with that one – it's not funny, I'm not doing that. End of story.' I snapped back, and he pulled a face.

'I didn't mean to get involved. Three nights back I had a premonition, and I asked Crystal if she knows anything about your Soulfinder. She said you were joking about it earlier when babysitting Sophia, but you're very reluctant and –' He went on to explain, but I cut to the point.

'What did you see?'

'I'm sure what I saw isn't happening for ages to come yet, it was very blurry and tainted, so I know it's not happening yet –'

'No, Zed, just tell me what you saw.'

'I mean, it's you. My gift never works properly around you. It's probably getting mixed up with someone else. And It doesn't mean anything –' He continued, and again I cut him off.

'Just tell me what you saw, Zed.'

'I saw you with a little baby. That's it. It's probably just going to be our niece but I wondered what caused it. I panicked thinking it was your kid but then I remembered you're on the pill, and you haven't found your Soulfinder, and you're not that stupid. Crystal said it was probably just a niece of ours – who knows what Trace and Diamond have been doing in their spare time – but that's all.' He explained, and I nodded guardedly. I know that Diamond and Trace would have kids in the next year sometime, and even the younger brothers and I had bets running on it for names, genders and months, so it seemed more likely. But Zed felt so guilty hiding this from me that it still raised alarm.

'Why did you feel so guilty?'

'It's you! I had to hide it from _you_. You know everything I've seen from my gift since we were toddlers and I had to try and hide it this one time. I didn't do too well, but I feel better that it's not you.'

'Yeah, believe me. I'm definitely not pregnant. However Diamond did seem a bit moody the other day. If I'm thinking what we were all thinking, my November bet will give me some money,' I joked as he stood up, pulling me too my feet. He looked shattered now he wasn't under any pressure and was probably backed off to bed – and I was off down the pool for a morning swim to relieve some of my anxieties from flying.

'Let's hope it's her then, and not one of the younger ones. Imagine the bollocking we'd get from Mom,' He joked.

I sat in the drivers' seat of the family Jeep that same morning, waiting for the girls to do the final goodbyes before we can leave for the airport. It was nearly 6am, the time we had said we'd leave the house in order to get into Denver for check in, but I had put pressure on the girls. I had also made a "no-teary-goodbyes-by-the-car" rule, meaning all the girls and my brother's were saying their goodbye's to their loved ones inside the house. I can deal with romance, and secretly envied it, but I couldn't deal with the public gushing emotions of affection so they can deal with it in their own privacy. It was like my brothers were sending their Soulfinder's off to war – not to England for 19 days. I sat looking at my phone, which had the stopwatch app open. Currently, it's been seven minutes and forty-nine seconds since I left the house, and let them do their private goodbyes. How long does it take people to say "I love you," and "I'll look after the fish"?

Eleven minutes after I left, Crystal came out the house, pulling her suitcase behind her. She quickly opened the boot, placing it next to mine with the luggage tags already in place before opening the passenger seat and getting in, her legs slightly bent. Not my fault she was a giant in comparison to me – a tiny elf in her presence. We had an ongoing joke with each other's height, and we would only allow the other to joke about it. Anyone else, we'd get pissed.

'Eleven minutes and seventeen seconds,' I said, pressing the "LAP" button to see who would the next one is out.

'Are you timing us?'

'Yup, eleven minutes and seventeen seconds,' I shook my head, but laughed as she hit me on my arm.

'Creepy.'

'We have plans,' I simply said, but I wasn't too fussed.

'Did those plans start eleven minutes and seventeen seconds ago?'

'Sure! You're the quickest, though. I'm hoping it's not like this in Cornwall,' I joked and Crystal laughed.

'Ella, it takes me eleven minutes and seventeen seconds to do my make-up, don't get too optimistic. Wait, what's the time – Sky and Phee have appeared at the same time!'

'They couldn't do it alone, so they left together. Is that funny or cute, I cannot tell. I want to go funny and amusing.' I said, looking over at Crystal. She pulled a face at me, almost disapproving and mocking at the same time.

'Girl, we need to get you hooked up with you –'

'Oi. That word is banned on this trip.' I told her, before whispering 'Don't tell those two, they won't let me have any rest,' and we were both silent as the girls opened the boot, piling in their suitcases and carry on hand luggage in the boot, before walking around and open the door.

'Let's go then,' Phee said quietly, getting in behind Crystal and doing her seatbelt up.

'Yeah, let's go watch Ella hook up with her Soulfinder!' Sky laughed, and I immediately groaned and pushed the chair back onto her legs. This trip would be more painful than I originally thought.


	4. Chapter 4 - Ella

**Chapter 4 – Ella**

We all sat in the departure hall at Denver international airport, having parked the car in the safe parking outside. Security checks done and luggage handed it, we just had to sit in the hall waiting for any news on our delayed flight. Currently the board just said "DELAYED FOR 2 HOURS", and there is only so much duty-free shopping you can do. So the four of us sat in one of the four-seater table things (the ones where the chairs don't actually move) playing cards with each other. We had all done the texts to the people we promised to say we are here fine but the flight was delayed.

'You know, when I was booking the flights Zed said go for these ones 'cause they wouldn't be delayed.' I simply said, looking through my hand of cars. I was careful not to show any emotion but I had an extremely good hand and considering there was a pint at stake on the other side of the ocean. Whilst you have to be over 21 to drink here, meaning that none of us could legally have an alcoholic beverage (until my 21st in just over 5 weeks), the age was only 18 in England meaning all of us can have a drink.

'He was probably just lying, it's a weird event to foresee,' Sky said, sticking up for her Soulfinder and I simply raised an eyebrow. Seeing me babysit our future niece or nephew was a weird thing to foresee but hey, that was a thing.

'He did manage to foresee me burning a turkey dinosaur, though.' Phee simply said, smiling at her deck of cards. She was never too good at hiding emotion. Note to self; try and teach her some hints on how to avoid showing emotion before taking her to base where people will try and read her secrets in seconds. It's a safe and fabulous place to work once everyone knows you're not a threat.

'Precise,' Crystal commented.

'Whenever we'll have turkey dinosaurs, we'll put a few extra in to cook, just to be on the safe side them.' Sky replied, 'Has anyone got the ace of spades?'

'Go fish,' I said as we continued our game of cards.

Half way through our game that no one had won yet, five security guys approached us and surrounded our table. The men were all dressed in the security uniform for the airport, in neutral position. Everyone in the departure hall who was waiting for their flight or our flight looked over, edging away as they stood by our table. Phee immediately hunched over and edged away – the criminal part of her mind was still panicky something would come of her previous lifestyle and tried to hide away from authorities.

'You're going to need to come with us,' the man at the front of the group said, dressed in the airport security uniform. The way he held himself screamed "authority", but his tone sounded friendly and familiar. I squinted, and realised who it was under the tinted glasses and authorities uniform.

'Mmhmm, and why would that be?' I simply asked, grinning at the man. All three girls looked at me as if I was smuggling drugs.

'Ma'am, can you just come with us.' I gave the man a hard look, sucking my teeth slightly. I could raise a fight, but if my haunches were right the man behind the glasses was no threat to me and probably just wanted a talk and maybe a drink, too.

'Okay then.' I stood up, collecting the cards and shoving them into my hooded jacket pocket, and picking up the carry-on bag. The girls did the same thing, but all appeared overly anxious as if we're being kidnapped or escorted for doing something. I let security guide us into the staff-only section of the airport, four guards behind us and the man I had suspicion about in front of us. Only when the snap shut staff-only doors, I asked the question on my mind.

'So, where are we going, Jonas?' I asked, and the security man turned around taking off his glasses. Sure enough, the boy smiled back, clearly remembering me.

'You actually remember me!' He shouted, putting his arms around my waist and lifting me up and spinning as we hugged. I laughed, hugging him back tightly. I was right – the man who stopped us was just a kid. He must be about nineteen now and started working for Maui when he was seventeen after he passed all the tests four years early. I was the one who trained him up – and I was only eighteen and then nineteen. As he was still on probation when I flew back to America we couldn't keep in touch so I prayed he would still be there when I went back – but sure enough he had been departed on work already.

'Of course I remember you, Muppet.' I laughed back. 'Why are you working here?'

'My gift is really good at finding drug smugglers. I'm better than a sniffer dog!' He joked, hitting me on my arm as he hair flicked his fringe from his eyes. 'Oh my, you haven't changed much since you were eighteen apart from getting more beautiful that is,' he said, kissing my cheek.

'Eh hem, what's going on?' Phee said, still anxious.

'Oh, this is Jonas, he is my bestie that I trained up for Maui – how did you recognise us?' I turned back to him as he shifted his weight onto one leg and stood pointing his toes. Weird resting position but who was I too judge.

'Honestly, I didn't. I got an email early saying to escort you lot through to first class lounge as Maui upgraded your seats, and I saw you name on the list. I hoped you still looked the same and I was right – you're still just as hot as ever!' He smiled, and I saw the ring on his finger as he touched my shoulder. I put my hand up to twirl the ring.

'Oh yeah?' I laughed as he pulled away embarrassed. 'Tell me everything.'

'I met my Soulfinder like a year ago when smuggling drugs, and I just fell – you know? He proposed to me a few months back and of course gay marriage is now legalised in America,' he grinned and I hugged him again, so happy.

'I better be invited to the wedding!'

'Best man, you'll be Ella. My best man.' He said, and whilst he was only joking and would save such a role for his brothers or best friends rather than the girl who trained him and defended him and stayed up for hours with him in the labs helping him master his gifts and not snap when he loses control, I was still touched. He held my hand, his engagement ring rubbing against my right hand as we walk down the staff corridors to the first class lounge. The girls chatted excitedly – none of them had been in first class. Honestly, I wasn't expecting this. Occasionally the company would pay and upgrade seats if you've worked for them and you have a case to do – only because first class meant those little booths and seats of two so you could do the work without prying eyes. I didn't expect it this time. Michael, who secretly admitted to me over Skype a day or so previous he was scared the girls would judge or hate him, probably upgraded us because he didn't want to disappoint the girls. He had a secret fear that my side of the adoptive family would hate him just because of how much I go over to England.

'So, found your Soulfinder yet?' He asked, leading me through into the lounge full of business men, all on their laptops. He hesitated back into the security neutral pose as the drugs man of Denver international but still kept his cheeky grin.

'Not yet – but...' I started to speak lowly. I trusted Jonas, and even trusted to be in a room when he was practising his gift at full effect with no safety and no control either.

'I love buts! Tell me more.'

'Of course you love butts, my peach.' I joked as he blushed, 'Well, these three are my younger brothers Soulfinder and the green giant among them is a Soulseeker,' I said, and he comically grabbed his chest.

'She is my brother's best friend, now.' He said, embracing Crystal before kissing the top of her head. The girls wasn't listening to our conversation, too amazed a waiter had come offer and offered them free beverages. She looked so confused at Jonas, before just smiling and turning back to the conversation with the waiter Sky and Phee were having. Jonas came back over.

'Go on,'

'Well she found my Soulfinder... but it turns out I already know him apparently. Or at least his brothers work at base.'

Jonas leaned forward as if to hear the juiciest gossip. 'Go on, who are his brothers?'

'You're going to die – please don't squeal. You're meant to be security. You are authority and scary, don't squeal, okay?' I warned him and he nodded, signing to be that his mouth was shut. 'His brothers are, um, Jake and Quinn.'

'Nooo! Their kid brother? I mean, he's cute don't get me wrong and he just got hotter every time he came into base, but I dunno. Are you sure it's right?' Jonas owned up, and I felt relieved that he was agreeing with my doubts – it made me feel a lot less nervous.

'Crystal doesn't tell unless she's 100% sure. And from the detail first time around, and especially as I didn't ask her,'

'She did it against your will?' Jonas asked, pretending to be shocked. I nodded, and he looked mildly irritated. Bless him, trying to look after me.

'She only thought she was doing what was right for me.' I told him quietly as he hugged me again, as the other four security waited by the door. I could only guess he was beginning to overspend the time that was dedicated to the mission of upgrading our seat, and the rest of the lads he was working with were getting irritated and fidgety.

'Ella, honey, you have to do what is good for you. Don't worry about Mr. Joseph Matthews because he doesn't know. To him, you're just the boss' little sister. If you don't want to get together you don't owe him anything. Got it?' He said, holding me tight. I loved Jonas for that reason – he always had the view of if you don't want to get with your Soulfinder, don't. Just because genetics suggests it, it doesn't mean you have too. Philosophical words, Jonas, I'll remember them. I just nodded in his chest.

'Good. I need to go now baby. Please keep in touch this time?'

'We can totally keep it touch this time!' I exclaimed, pulling a face when the businessmen in first class tutted at me. Oops. Last time, probation period meant we couldn't. This time, we swapped numbers. He gave me one last hug and kiss before he left to carry on his day of work, and we were called to finally board the plane.

Sitting in first class meant more leg room, and our own little pair bed thing going on. Thankfully, the aisles were four seats side, two either side of an aisle. Sky and Phoenix sat one side of the aisle, whilst Crystal and I on the right side of the aircraft. About ten minutes after takeoff, and the seatbelt sign came off, we all adjusted our seats to lay-down mode, and sure enough all of the girls were asleep. Clearly, they weren't use to minimal sleep. That left me, wide awake on an aircraft, trapped to the window seat at Crystal can't stand watching the cities miles and miles below us, for the nine hour flight. I laid on my side, looking out the window pretending to be asleep as the air hostesses went past. Not only that, I found the blanket they hid in our pouch and put it over myself as I watched the states fly past below us – Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Maryland before heading across the Atlantic. I had time to think about the choice I had to make in England. I knew that it would complete me and I could probably have the life that I dreamed of but would I just ruin him? Jonas had managed to make me feel human despite the choice at hand, and made the decision seem less daunting. I had attempted to sleep but as I saw the Atlantic Ocean part of the journey start – the longest stretch – I just had to accept it would be a long trip with my only company that wasn't asleep would be my restless thoughts.

I needed help – and I didn't know if Joe could do that for me.


	5. Chapter 5 - Ella

**Chapter 5 – Ella**

Whilst the plane journey was a fairly relaxing time for the three girls, having slept for eight of the eight hours and forty five minutes and only waking up when we hit some turbulence just over the Atlantic near England. However, I just lay awake looking out the windows, the large expanse of dead water stretching out for hours and hours as we travelled across the Atlantic. It made me feel very small and insignificant in the world we live in. The expanse of a single ocean took up a good five hours of the journey as we covered the unchanging landscape of the Atlantic. Five hours in a plane just looking at the off cloud at the sea gave me a long time to think about the predicament I would no doubt find myself in when the plane landed in London Heathrow. I didn't know what to do now. I was so certain that I never wanted to meet my Soulfinder and never actually get together, but was it worth giving it a chance? I doubt he knew about his relationship with me, so surely I could talk and meet him like we're just colleagues, and if he was an asshole then I could disown him and the whole theory and start my life without the hope that my parents fed to me. But what if he was nice? I hadn't settled on my decision for that possibility.

Shortly after we all departed the aircraft, politely saying "thank you" to the flight attendant remembering our Britishness and the manners that were spoon fed to us ever since we were toddlers, we waited to pick up our luggage.

'So what are we doing after this?' Phoenix said, waiting by the conveyer belt looking slightly on edge. I couldn't blame her. Before she got married to my "twin" brother Yves she belonged in a community of Savant thieves, who used their gifts in order to gain a bounty of stolen goods to keep their place. None of us held it against her – she did what she had to too survive. But because of her past, even though she hasn't even thought about stealing anything she is always feeling really on edge in places with high security.

'Go back to Michael's, I guess. Get some food –' I went on to explain, knowing our bags weren't going to come out any time soon - they had just got on the rail for screening before being sent up here and that was a five minute journey at the very least.

'Don't we have to do that 5km you signed us up for as well?' Sky said, and I looked over at her laughing slightly. Sky wasn't thrilled when I suggested we joined in with the Maui girls at the headquarters doing the annual Race for Life. Apart from this year, it was the Pretty Muddy event, which includes obstacles and mud – lots of mud.

I nodded, 'Yeah, that's tonight at 6:15. It'll be fun.' I reassured the girls.

'You'll run off.' Phee said, glaring at me.

'Nah, I'll stay with you. We'll go around and do it together. Run at the beginning and get some distance before a good gossip. Michael ordered our costumes for us a few weeks ago and they arrived so we've got them as well. Then I guess we'll just come back and crash then go our different ways tomorrow, then we're all meeting back up at the train station three days time as we have a part we're invited too in the evening, then a day off before we go down to Cornwall,' I explained, having spotted Crystals polka dotted suitcase coming around. I darted forward and grabbed it, triple checking the name like normal human even though I had already checked it when I projected down to the bag screening area. If hers was through, ours was only minutes away.

'Am I still okay to stay with you and Michael? He doesn't mind?' Phee asked again. Whilst Crystal was off to visit her nieces and nephews, grandparents and sisters and most of her family and Sky was doing the exact same, Phee didn't have any family to visit. She's been an orphan since fifteen, so I offered her to stay around with Michael and I, and Maui Headquarters has even given her the pass to get into base with her name on it.

'Of course, we have a Disney film night with our name on it.' I joked, pointing to the rest of the suitcases that have all just come out of the entrance of the baggage turntable.

'And this party?' Crystal asked. 'Will your boy be there?'

I crossed my arms over the chest, shrugging. These jokes were just getting annoying. 'Probably not – it's an engagement party for two of the older people there. Everyone from base is invited. I doubt he works at the same place as both Jake and Quinn and Carly, or turn up to a party when they all go. According to Jonas, he's a bit on an ass.' I explained, pulling up the suitcase. We walked through security without another word said to us – no one pulling us aside and into the arrivals hall in Heathrow. I barely managed to make it under the ropes that separated us from people holding name signs before I was picked up off my feet in a tight bear hug. I hugged Michael back, burying my head into his chest as he lifted me up and spun me around. He kissed the crown of my head as he put me down.

'Long time no see,' he joked, as he went on to hug the rest of the girls that had followed in awe. Sometimes I forget that Crystal, who has only been part of the family for just under four months, had only seen Michael once and that was at her sister's wedding to my oldest brother. She wasn't fully adjusted to how friendly he was despite the fact he was six foot six and looked like a rugby player. He had picked up the relatively good looks that my family held. He had picked up the height gene, something that clearly I never had at my exact 5 foot. (Well, if we're being specific I'm 4.98 feet, or 152cm as it's almost haunting me on my pass to get into the Maui Headquarters). Not only that, he had a crop of light brown hair that sat perfectly no matter how much styling had gone into it, bright light green eyes that occasionally looked grey and a tiny sprinkle of freckles. In comparison, I had thick blonde hair with odd streaks that are slightly darker which made my hair looked kind of greasy at times; eyes that are greyer then green, but look light green on my best days. Not only that, my freckles looks like someone was sprinkling a surface with flour but ended up pouring a few too many on. Also in summer, I don't really tan. My freckles multiply and I end up getting a beard of freckles. Basically; it sucks to be me in the looks department.

'It's been like, two months.' I told him, as he took our four carryon bags and walked us to the secure parking area outside, where my car was parked up. He understood my slight paranoia of driving and cars led on from the crash, and he promises me my car will be waiting for when we get out. As he walked off, I fell back and stood with Crystal and Phoenix, and Sky went on to talk to Michael.

'Your brother is really cute.' Phee just said shaking her head.

'You're married.' I replied back, giving her a slightly disdainful look out of the corner of my eye. There's always that saying about the older sibling giving "the conversation" when you got in a relationship. I plan to do the exact same when Michael find himself in another relationship. He didn't have a good dating record.

'I'm not married – yet.' Crystal. 'However, you got all defensive then. What's that thing you always say to us? Oh yeah 'finding someone hot doesn't lead to an attraction.' So, we're good to keep on staring at your brother when he's being nice.' Crystal explained.

'Of course,' I walked out of the arrivals hall with Crystal and Phee, as Sky and Michael got to my car – a silver four door family car with a small scratch on the side. We waited outside as the car as Michael rearranged four suitcases then one smaller suitcase and three more bags on top before closing the door. He opened the back door for the girls so Sky could get in the middle. Crystal went around the other side as Phee sat on the other side as I got in the driver's seat. I made sure my seatbelt was on before Michael got in the car, quickly texting on his phone.

'What's up?' I asked as he frowned at his phone.

'You're wanted at base,' He simply said and I pulled a face, but turned to indicate down the M4 towards Guildford without another word.

'Why?'

'There's been a murder,' He simply said, putting his phone down on his lap. 'Nothing too bad,'

'Someone's still dead, family have just lost a love one – I don't think you can say a murder isn't bad.' One of the girls behind me said, and I met Phoenix's eyes in the mirror.

'Correct, it still must be absolutely heartbreaking to lose your family at the hands of someone else, however when we say it's nothing too bad it just means it's not considered part of a homicidal chain.' Michael explained and Phee nodded. She wasn't use to the short language we use at base.

'What is it, then?' I asked, joining the traffic on the slip road heading to the motorway.

'Man suspected of telekinetically murdering his wife – no forensic evidence on the knife. He's refusing to speak. We need you, with your creepy watching of the man to find out if he's guilty.'

'You know I can't get someone who won't speak... to speak.' I explained.

'We know. We've found someone who can use their gift to make someone speak what is on their mind. He's... new. Don't worry he's not _too_ bad. I think he's a bit younger than you but he's not that bad. It's only a trial, if you don't like him then fuck him.' My gut dropped when I realised they were getting me to do this trial period because it was someone new, but it was almost like he was new and trusted already. To gain trust in the last two months since whomever it was passed probation and started working on real cases and therefore needed a partner to work with. It's hard to find someone who can compliment your gifts. There were only four pairs who can do it and since one of them has left they're trying to find me a partner in order for me to do interviews effectively. But if he was trusted to work with me – who is described as "extremely sensitive and mentally disturbed" he would have to be quite high up in the ranks to start with. But you can't get respected in two months. No, so he'd have to have family high up.

'Any family in Maui?' I asked Michael, and the girls behind changed the way they were all sitting. They were listening more intensely, leaning in.

'Obviously.' Michael said, wondering why we were all suddenly acting hostile.

'Who?' I urged, and he gave me a slightly odd look having obviously wondered why I had become so panicky and what he said to cause the reaction.

'Jake and Quinn's kid brother.'


	6. Chapter 6 - Joe

Chapter 5 – Joe

I sat by the edge of the pool, my feet in the water as Jason did laps. It was fascinating watching him; it was almost like he was part fish. I preferred going for long morning runs with my parent's dog in the morning as it got me out when I woke up early, but the passion kind of receded as Socks, the family dog, passed away a year or so ago. The news had come through that Maui was expanding into drugs searches, and have brought on five new drug puppies that still needed to pass training before being adopted out. However, one of the guys at work who was sort of my boss but in a relative term had already got his hands on one of the puppy. At Maui, we all got told there were no bosses or managers and we were all at the same level in the eyes of the Government but we all knew it wasn't true. There was a relative hierarchy with some people being further ahead than others. Michael Evans, and my brother Jake, were kind of our managers and were offered one of the drug puppies. Jake had to say no – puppies weren't too good around three week old babies – but Michael took one. A cute Springer spaniel who's overly hyper called Peri Peri. The dogs had all been named after spices, and joining Peri Peri was Pepper, Clove, Cinnamon and Saffron. I decided I would offer to adopt one of the puppies at the end of August, when I move into my new flat. I had never lived alone, so I would probably just be isolated and lonely.

I shook off my daydream, watching Jason as he continued to swim. I never learnt to swim in school because – when we were offered swimming lessons in year 7 – I bunked them. Not because I was a bad man kid but simply because I was four foot two and 14 stone. I was edging in between and obese and morbidly obese and when you're that big in the first year of secondary school – well – you're a target. And as I didn't talk back or argue back or even start to think of comebacks and I was just shy, so I just let it happen. And when the school uniform for swimming was (guess what!) swimming trunks, I was too self conscious to be seen in swimming lessons. Things they didn't teach you in school; both boys and girls can be insecure about their bodies. So I never learnt to swim. I mean, I would love to learn but I would need someone who would be patient and wouldn't mock me.

'You look like a seal who isn't allowed to play in the water at the zoo,' Jason laughed, jumping up on the wall to the left of me.

'Thanks,' I laughed slightly.

 _You're not at home?_ Jake asked me telepathically, and along the line I could feel him standing in the kitchen, looking at the half drunk bottle of water. I'm not used to being messy and had to have everything in place before I left, so the bottle of water was cause for alarm.

 _No, down the pool with Jason._

 _Can both of you come home so I can take you to base? You're both needed._ He simply said. Jason isn't a Savant but his degree and the fact he was good friends with so many Savant's, he was allowed to be one of three who weren't Savant's – and the other two were government officials.

 _Why are we needed?_ I asked, gesturing for Jason to get up. He knew what it meant when I couldn't talk – and it meant telepathy. He trusted me so with no more words and just a scowl, he got up beside me and started to follow me out the swimming pool park.

 _You know we struggled to find you someone you can work with and who can compliment your gift in an interview of a suspect? Well – we think we managed to find someone. And she's lovely and your age and if you dare be horrible to her I will personally punch you. Some come back home as soon as you can and we'll go in._ And he cut the conversation as I left milling what he said.

My gift meant I could get someone to speak unfiltered so they wouldn't hold back, but I couldn't get them to tell the truth or show what emotion they were showing so we couldn't know if they were lying or if they were guilty. We couldn't use me in an interview of a suspect alone because we couldn't sentence someone based on them spilling secrets with details. They needed someone who would tell if someone was lying and their emotion and no one who worked at Maui had that gift. A few people on the American side of the Net had the gift but couldn't fly over here as often as they needed – so the fact they found someone was huge. And she's also my age. I couldn't help the flutter of butterflies in my stomach just thinking she could be the one. But the way Jake talked about her made me doubt something – he obviously knew her. How could he know her and not tell me? He was desperate to hook me up and the way he talked, the girl who could compliment my gift in an interview was a close friend. And I had _no_ idea who it could be.

'Why are we suddenly leaving?' Jason asked, and I realised we had walked for ten minutes in absolute silence.

'We were called in – they found someone who could do interviews with me.' I simply said, and Jason stopped for a second as I carried on walking to get home. He had to jog to keep up with me.

'Are they new?' One of the things I was proud of was teaching Jason to be gender-neutral with things. Whilst one would automatically think it was a guy they found to work with me who could "make people tell the truth", he still used collective third person pronouns. We are also both against gendering colours and I vow when (or even if) I had a kid, they can do whatever they want to and we wouldn't force them to wear pink if they were a girl, or blue if they were a boy. They could do whatever they want too.

'She, and I dunno. Jake said she was my age, and that she was nice, so I guess she isn't new but then I've never met her. Guess we just have to wait and find out.' I said.

'Do you think she could be your Soulfinder?' Jason asked, and my heart fluttered for a second. He was strangely quick and understanding for someone who isn't of a Savant blood stream. But I can guarantee you he wasn't always this understanding.

It was the summer after our GCSE exams, and we were both confident it went well. So we kicked back and relaxed on our extended study leave period by mainly playing Xbox in my house in the spare room. I had known Jason for just over ten years then and that's a massively long time to hide a secret as big as, you know, your brain being able to make someone forget something in seconds. I try to restrict my gifts but even he's noticed people coming up with intentions to be assholes, then suddenly leaving as if the almighty elephant saw a mouse and ran away. He must have doubted it so I convinced myself I would tell him and it would all be okay. So unlike many teenage boys our age, who were playing shitty war games, we instead sat on the Xbox playing Sims 3, laughing at each other as we managed to set our house on fire again. I paused the Xbox.

'Got something to tell you, Jason,' I whispered, and he frowned, pushing his glassed back up onto the bridge of his nose. He only needed glasses for concentration work and the Sims involves a lot of conversation.

'You're gay – knew it.'

'No, this is serious.' I replied back, shaking my head.

'It's okay, I understand.'

'Listen to me, I'm not gay.' I replied back. 'Don't freak out, and don't call the cops okay?' I simply said, trying to ease him into the announcement like any good friend would.

'I will literally call your brother if you've murdered someone; he's a cop so he will do.' He was on about Jake and Quinn, who I told him were just policemen to stop his constant questioning. Now, I will have to answer that I lied to him.

'You know what, I'm just going to come out and say it. I have a weird mind trick I can do.'

'Haha, you're funny.' He simply said, grabbing the remote. Annoyed, I lunged forward and pulled the plug in cord out of the front of the machine by sheer force. 'Wait, you're not kidding?'

'No. I'm not kidding.'

'Sure you are – you don't even believe in ESP. You know what then, prove it.' He leaned forward and took a sip of his Pepsi. The glass was in his hand one second and floating above the sofa the next. I raised an eyebrow at him as he continued to stare at me in horror, flicking his eyes between me and the floating glass.

'Are you telling me my best friend is actually an alien cause that will piss me off?' He simply said. 'I don't believe it. It's a prank. Good one, but didn't fool me.'

I moved the glass towards him as he moved his hands around all directions of the glass, noticing that there were no strings and no way could this be recorded.

'What are you?' He simply asked, fear in his voice. He had started to believe in it.

'One in every ten thousand is born with this gene that allows us to do things like this. And it's genetic. We're called Savant's, and there's more too it but I'm just going to give it to you in small pieces to start with.' I watched, dipping into his brain as he tried to compute what I was saying. He still didn't believe it.

'Nah, mate. Nah.' He said.

'Fucking hell, I knew you were thick but come on. I have just shown you undeniable proof and you still deny it. You know what, just come downstairs when you are willing to listen to what I'm saying and when you've stopped re-debating your morals.' I snapped, getting annoyed and walking out of the spare bedroom and down into the kitchen. As I was the seventh child of my parent's haul of children, everyone expected me to come out like a shining star. Instead, I got moderately unimpressive gifts and was so socially secluded I may as well have been homeschooled. And now, the one friend I had actually made was on the edge of hating me after I pointed out I had weird mind powers. Trying not to panic, I ordered a large Hawaiian pizza and some chicken strippers and cookies from Domino's. It took the whole twenty minutes for them to be delivered for Jason to get over it and come downstairs and reflecting on it, it was probably the smell of food that made him move. I sat eating the pizza as he came downstairs and stormed into the kitchen.

'You shouldn't exist.' He simply said with a look I never could fathom on his face. It was in between hate, confusion and just horror but he masked them so well with just a neutral face. But I saw the look in his eyes – stone cold hate. I had cocked up big time.

'Thanks.' I replied, taking another bite but he slapped the slice back into the box. I frowned at him. Did he just interrupt pizza time?

'No – you said people like you don't exist. There is so scientific basis to any of this. This is just a massive prank. Where's the cameras?'

'It's not a prank, Jason, calm. Look – just sit down and we can talk this through.' I said, pointing to the table but he was too busy pacing.

'What can you do then, just move Pepsi?'

'Bit more than that. I can move things telekinetically, and talk telepathically to my brothers and parents and other Savant's but I can almost manipulate people's thinking patterns into whatever I want them to do.' I explained, and he slunked over as he sat down. He was defeated by what I was telling him.

'Prove it. If you can manipulate thought patterns, make me go outside right now and shout at some seagulls.' I pulled a face, not wanting to use my gift unless it was necessary.

'I don't like using my gift unless I have to.' I said. I hated using it for party tricks, it wasn't fair on the recipient – even if they were my family or friends.

'Do it.' He simply said so I did.

I dipped into his mind which had no form of blocking and got down into the control base kind of thing. That's how I was taught to control my gift for more fine use, imagine being able to control the present in one room in one half of the brain, and the future on the other half. Only manipulate one at a time – keep running through the door separating it. So sure enough, I manage to make Jason stand up, as he looked shocked and confused, walk through the door and down the street to a small grassy area with a large oak tree that always had one or two seagulls in it, and make him think about shouting at the large birds, but didn't force him too.

'Is that proof enough?' I asked, crossing my arms.

'Yeah, I believe you. Did you order Hawaiian?' He said, walking back inside the house to the dining room table, before picking up a slice. I stood over him in shock. He went from hating me existence one second to eating my pizza the next second.

'Are you serious? I told you I can do this and you reply by eating pizza.'

'You were always a bit odd, Joe; I kind of just put it down to you being messed up in the head. Now I know that you're messed up in the head because you have these weird but awesome gifts, it's cool. It makes a lot of sense. We're cool. Eat pizza.' He simply said, kicking the chair out as he embarked on another round of civil questions and I had to explain the whole thing to him. Whilst my parents yelled at me saying I was wreckless and didn't think, Jason was completely cool and never told anyone and has now gone on to work at the Savant base despite him not exhibiting any gifts.

I noticed Jason was still staring at me, waiting for my reply as we turned into my front garden. What had he asked me before I went off into my daydreams again? Oh yeah, Soulfinder.

'Doubt it.' I said. 'If she's worked there for a while someone would have raised a form of an alarm but nothing. It looks doubtful.' I said, unlocking the door telekinetically.

'Get changed, put some relatively nice clothes on and get your asses in gear.' Jake ordered from the lounge, where he was sitting crossed legged on the cream couch watching TV.

'Asses?' Jason asked.

'You're coming too – for once.' Jake joked, tilting his head to one side. 'Jeremy Kyle is positively fascinating. Why have I never got into shitty daytime TV before paternity leave? This is brilliant quality stuff.'

'Shit, Joe, your brother has got sucked into Jezza K whilst he was been baby watching his kids. Quick, clothes, now.' Jason joked, walking straight up into the spare bedroom where he leaves some of his clothes. The amount of times he is over here, we may as well convert it to his bedroom. Instead, I just walked into the lounge, moving my clothes down the stairs telekinetically.

'Where are the twins?' I asked, putting my shirt on as Jake continued to rock to the side slightly, almost like a restless toddler as the shitty day time TV droned on about girls ex boyfriends dad sleeping with her, and wanting a DNA test on the baby. God, why don't people just do what's best for their children. It's not rocket science.

'Leannah has got them – we're going straight to base then probably to Dorney Lake for the Race for life. She said she'd meet us there if we're not back.' He said, 'We dunno how long this interview will take. You seem on edge, though.'

'I am on edge – who is this girl?'

'She's not new if that's what you're thinking. She's worked at base since she was 12 – so that's just over eight years now. Very high up in terms of respect, and whilst it's not her Savant gift that she uses in interviews it's highly effective.'

'What does she do that's so unique that a normal human can't do?' I snapped, putting on a pair of skinny dark blue jeans, untucking my black shirt that got caught.

'Chill with the tone, bro, she simply watches people. She can analyse people's micro expressions and gestures and go based on that. Not only can she tell if people are lying she can also see what expression they are showing. Contempt, happiness, guilt, sexual arousal – everything. We just need you to use your gift to get the man to speak unfiltered and flowing and to ask questions as she watches. That's it.' He simply said, turning the wedding band on his finger. Who would have thought Jake would be the first one in the family to settle down and have kids. It was a surprise to the entire family. A bigger surprise would be if it was me (thankfully, it wasn't.)

'You haven't actually said her name.'

'For a good reason – you don't like Savant families that all work in an organisation, do you? You never liked having that exposure when our family were still on the visible Net, before most of us got moved to the grey Net.'

'No – it's stupid. If someone hacks the base the entire family is at risk. It's stupid and nearly happened in 2012 because that one guy nearly gave it away. Thankfully, that guy was smart and encoded it because he's like Albert Einstein and has his younger brothers and twin sister to help him out or whatever and the Benedict's are a bloody talented family. But it's stupid.'

'Well, I'm glad you like the Benedict family, Joe.'

'Why?' I grinded out.

'Ella Benedict – Yves, or as you called him Albert Einstein's "Twin"' he made speech mark's in the air and I frowned. What was he doing? 'Yeah, she will be the person we're trailing you out with today. So we need you to get to base ASAP as she had just got off her plane about half an hour ago.'


	7. Chapter 7 - Joe

I sat in the front of Jake's car, arms crossed and tapping my finger on my upper arm as we drove down the M25 on our way to the base. Not much was said after he told me that as I was more in silence. Near enough everyone knew about the Benedict family, mainly because they were the ones who founded the Savant Net to start with. Based in Colorado, America, the family contains one more than the normal Savant family; with eight kids rather than the seven. Seven boys and one girl – with the girl being twins with the second youngest. Their gifts were strong and unique and they are one of the most talented families at putting away criminals, but they all work for the FBI only occasionally travelling over here if the crime Maui was working on was international. It was rare, though.

It was safe to say everyone who worked at base was part of the Net. The Savant Net was for people who use their Savant gifts for good, and we are vowed to keep ourselves at a low profile in order to protect ourselves. Many out there want our gifts, or to destroy those who use their Savant gifts for crime, or just to expose us. Maui and certain parts of the FBI are dedicated to stop this. The Net was a massive group of Savant's, at least five thousand strong, who are dedicated to stopping this – and the Benedict's are at the heart of it.

Seven of the family are on the visible Net, which you can see if you belong to Maui. The parents, Saul and Karla, and five of their children. Three of them are only visible on the Grey Net. Occasionally, some Savant's need their names and gifts hidden for reasons that are unexplained – and three of the Benedict's are on the list with their gifts hidden. Just their names visible; Trace Benedict, Victor Benedict and Ella Benedict all belong on this hidden area of the Net. I always found it weird that the girl was hidden as well. The older two made sense – they both worked for the police or the FBI and would need to be hidden. But the girl? As far as I knew until only seconds before, she was twins with Yves Benedict – they were both eighteen nearly nineteen. Well, that turned out to be a lie, didn't it?

'Yeah, Ella's like nineteen. She's not my age.' I told Jake as he continued to watch Jeremy Kyle. He just frowned, and I couldn't tell if it was at me or at the show.

'Can't believe you fell for that lie.'

'What do you mean, lie?' I asked, sitting down on the armchair as he paused the television.

'What do you know about Ella, Joe? Who's her brother?'

'Why does this sound like a trick question?' I asked, and Jake just smiled. 'The Benedict's, right?'

'Nope. Trick question!' He simply said. 'What I am going to tell you are a pretty big secret and for her sake you have to keep it quiet, okay?' And I nodded as he took in a deep breath. 'Ella is adopted by the Benedict's, if we track the genetics she is only their cousin. She's nearly twenty one, two months older than you. She was in a car crash when she was four that killed all her family apart from her older brother who was two and a half years older than her. Does that story sound familiar, Joe?' I hesitated. 'You're literally now part of the secret service, put it together Joe.'

'Michael...' I remembered someone telling me how he was in a crash that killed all this family apart from his little sister. He was up stupid times on the phone and texting and Skyping his sister in America. It all fell into place.

'Good boy! Yes, she is a Benedict especially in the way she acts, but she's come over for a few weeks on holiday and is willing to try and sort out this murder case with you to see if it'll work. If you two are good to each other, she might come over a few more times a year or consider moving back over here for a couple of months a year. Ella's lovely, but her gifts are very strong and are dangerous if you annoy her. I've always got on well with her ever since she started when she was 12 –' Jake continued to talk, but soon after Jason came back downstairs and we all left to head back to base.

'Question,' I asked, sitting in the front of the car. We had just passed a few junctions heading into London but we continued down south towards Surrey.

'Go on,'

'How did Ella start when she was 12, and I had to wait until I was twenty?'

'She's got a very criminal brain, and has gifts are so unique and she already had started work for the FBI and was successful in putting three deadly Savant killers behind bars. Michael also started early at fourteen and together they proved the innocent of someone who was framed and caught the actual murderer minutes before he killed the next victim. They were only wanted for one case, but since then they've been able to stay on at their young age.' He explained, and I nodded. 'Doubt you could've done that when you were 12.'

'Probably not.' I admitted to him.

We all remained silent until we entered the front base, followed by the security base, at the front of the Maui Headquarters. After we passed security, we drove for another three minutes down woody roads before we pulled out the front of the base. A rather impressive four storey building welcomes you to the base; which was on a base on over 14 acres of land. On base; you have the main building with various rooms including offices, interview rooms, and yet more offices. Directly behind the main building, the hospital sat. The hospital provided everyone who works on the base free, fast and impartial anonymous medical treatment whether it be from an injury during a mission on just a top up on the flu jab. It keeps the medical files hidden and tucked away so only the base can access them and no other parties. Just visible from where Jake is parking the car, a large sports hall slash gym of which most of the guys work here train at. Of course, a large free gym completely kitted with top of the range equipment, many people would say "sign me up!" but all you needed was your pass to enter. At the back of the sports hall slash gym, a large swimming pool which had a wave simulator added on last year for marine training purposes. The base is still relatively known and meant expansion was needed as Maui expanded too. Further to the left, and with even more security, was the high security prison many Savant's was required to spend their sentences in as it's impossible for a Savant to get in and out. Within the building, each door had seven different locking systems that would have to be disabled from the control room at the same time under three different securities keys, and then the whole place is impenetrable. Not only that, ten feed out from the building in every direction stood a telepathic force field that would knock a Savant out if they got near it. But all those who are held prisoner were knocked out before they were brought onto base, and as they can't even use their gifts they have no idea where they are being held. We were as safe as anyone can be in these situations. Even the guard staff had to stay away from this force field. A few acres behind the building were 16 fully furnished log cabins – seven of them were saved for innocent victims to relocate to if their homes were under threat, and the other ten provided accommodation for families of those who worked here to sleep if they so needed it. Various other buildings were scattered around, as well as a tree top assault course to test fitness that we had to do every six months. I could hear the sound of someone doing the course now, as I climbed out the car. Leading up to the main building, 28 concrete steps with banisters set 15 foot apart that we all had to walk up.

'Okay, all Ella needs you to do in the interview is to ask the questions. She will never speak unless she has a lead, got it?' Jake said, pausing to hold his badge against the security plaque, which then reads it and clocks you in. Jason and I followed the procedure before we got into the small lift that takes us up to the first floor. The whole place was about security, so they used the badges to track our every movement. Not only that, there was no entrance for the ground floor – you were taken in a bulletproof glass lift to the first floor, then had to walk down the stairs if you needed to.

'Got it.'

'She will write down the questions that are relevant to the case on paper, and you just read them. Don't question them, and pretend you two have known each other for years and have discussed the techniques before you get in there.' Jake explained, as we waited by reception. The receptionist came over, as I re-quiffed my hair she spoke.

'Ella is already in the room, she hasn't started but she's already watching.' She told us, and Jake gave a smile to her which in no doubt melted her. I hate it when Jake turns on his charm, something I can never do. I just look like a tit doing that.

'We can't look at any of the equipment during the interview in case we tamper, as I'm family and Jason isn't a Savant, but we can still watch from the observation deck next to the interview room.' The rooms worked like this; you had the standard 20 by 20 foot interview room, with the recorder, table, chairs. The suspect was hooked up to a polygraph to show any guilt based on body cues such as an increase in breathing or heart rate. The room had two mirrors which were just one way glass. The first was to the back of where the interviewer sat, where a team of four or five sat and analysed the material and the recording, crossing it with evidence and so on to find any flaws in the speech. The other mirror was to the left, where an observation deck sat for others to watch the progress or to train new people in the art of "how to tell when people are bullshitting."

'So when you both come to a conclusion, you just have to leave without speaking to us until it's finalised. Go down to the ground floor Starbucks and we'll meet you there if all is good. Just...' Jake jogged up the stairs to the second floor, where the interview room we were in was set. 'Ella is pretty tricky to work with, but she's good at what she does. Please just be nice to her.'

'I'm sure lover boy will be very nice to her if she's pretty,' Jason joked hitting my chest as I frowned at him.

'Believe me, she's pretty so hopefully they'll be okay. For today, at least.' Jake said, standing outside the interview room. This was as far as he could take me – now all I had to do was press my security key card against the plaque, pick up the questions from the monitoring room and walk straight through to where my new potential interview mate person sat. And for Jake to call her pretty after he's not got married and settled down, she must be something. I nodded.

'Good luck,' both Jake and Jason said, pushing opens the door leading to the observation deck, and I pushed open the door to the monitoring room.

 **Chapter 7 – Joe**


	8. Chapter 8 - Joe

**Chapter 8 – Joe**

'You're a bit late, Joe, but better late than never,' Susan said. Susan was one of the big bosses in this place, a very tardy lady in her mid-fifties but a very fair person. She will apologise if she's wrong or steps out of line, but will not back down if you've done something wrong.

'I am sure it was your brother's fault as appose to yours.' She shook her hair, her greying bob cutting the lines of her cheekbones. It was clear to see she had a soft spot for Jake, as Jake treated her more as a motherly figure than everyone else, and has even managed to get her quite jokey a few times since I started – something that hasn't happened since her brother died at the hands of a very evil mass murdering Savant two years after Maui was established. I looked over to the window, seeing the man being questioned already strapped up, the recorder recording and the girl sitting in front of him. From this side, I could only see her straight blonde hair falling down her back and stopping just past her shoulder blades – a wonderful natural colour with different shades mixed in. She was sitting cross legged on the chair, with a spotty black and white backpack next to her. In front of her, a clipboard with a plain sheet of paper.

'They haven't started questioning the man yet. Ella's just been getting a base line for herself so she can gauge the reactions properly when you go in. Here are the questions she wants you to ask,' Susan handed me two sheets of paper that were clearly ripped from a notepad or something. Ella's handwriting was neat and block, but italic at the same time.

'Do you know about the case, Mr. Matthews?' Susan asked, looking back through the window and smiling fondly at Ella's back. Clearly, she was a fan of Ella too. I frowned at the formal use of my last name.

'Jake mentioned it was about a man who telekinetically stabbed his wife? Seems quite tricky to convict.' I said, and Susan nodded.

'Correct. We need to him say it which is why we hoped you and Ella can crack him together. She can get under your skin if you're not careful and that's what we need. But yes, an argument about money led to him stabbing his wife multiple times – four, to be precise – telekinetically with a bread knife. You ready, son?' She asked, and I nodded. I wasn't going to think twice about the "son" comment as it's hard to double guess a woman who's been working for Scotland Yard for over three decades.

'In you go then,' Susan said, and I pushed open the interview room. I blinked against the harsh white room, before closing the door. Both the suspected man, and the girl, looked at me and I felt my heart flutter when I looked at Ella. Jake was definitely right, she is pretty. Very pretty. Her hair was pushed back, and had a small curl where she obviously tucks it behind her ear like she had done a few moments ago, but it had fallen back out again. Her eyes were a fascinating grey green mix which I could find myself getting lost in if I had a chance and the mixture of freckles across her nose and following the line of her cheekbones were adorable. She sucked her lips for a second, as she eyed me up and down, and a large dimple appeared on her left cheek. That's it – she was absolutely stunning and almost model like. I was quite near the observation deck and could hear a very faint and small sound of a female squeal. I wouldn't ask – I could question who was watching later.

'Is this your partner then, kid?' The man asked, as I took the seat next to her. The man we were questioning was overweight, with a pathetic attempt at a beard and hawk-like hazel eyes, watching my every movement as I sat down. The top of his head was balding but the side's hadn't got the message, leaving him looking like there was a bald island.

'Indeed,' She said, and whilst I could hear the American in her accent, it wasn't entirely composed and had hints of English as well, and an articulated tone.

'He's not good at punctuality, is he?'

'He's on time. I was just really early.' Ella joked as I sat down, putting the loose leaf paper in front of me. I gave her a sideways look – was she actively talking to a murderer like they were best friends.

'Got an early plane? I thought you said it was delayed.' The suspect asked her, and she gave a one arm shrug. Wait, she just got off a plane? God, she looked good for the however long the plane journey took from America to here.

'It was delayed – it was a stupidly early flight. I saw an opportunity to come in early, earn some extra money for the kid you know.' She asked, looking up at him. I knew full well she didn't have a kid, so I wasn't too sure what she was playing at but I still let her do it.

'Sure, must be tricky with Christmas coming up.' He said, and Ella just nodded. Christmas wasn't for another nine and a half months yet – it wasn't coming up. He seemed very confused on time cues. I wrote that down on my pad, Ella looking over and nodded.

'You good to start?' Ella softly asked, and I nodded, not trusting my voice when she was being this nice and this close to me. I told myself to get a grip, as I entered the mind of the suspect. A lot of things were going in his head – the events of that night were scrambled in among accompanying thoughts of basic survival and what he could use to hurt us if it came to that. Nope – that thought is going. I quickly "swiped right" to throw the idea of hurting us away and he completely forgot it. Tada, that's what my gift is. It's basically a brain version of snog, marry or avoid. Do I let him keep this future thought, let it become present or throw it away. Anyway, I found the core of his thinking process and turned it onto "flooding", so he would have no filters before I backed out and looked at the paper.

'So what actually happened that night, sir?' I asked, as Ella leant back in his chair. Sure enough, the man did as well.

'My wife and I were arguing about money. Things had become very tight since I lost my job and the missus was working double hours just to pay the rent. But she had started to spend on stupid things that we didn't need and I got annoyed.'

'You have anger issues, then, sir?' Ella butted in, and the man hesitated.

'I don't think I do, but this really ticked me off. I left her to cook dinner for us, and I then heard a scream. I ran into the lounge to see that she had stabbed herself four times in what was suicide.' He shrugged.

'How did a bread knife,' I thought back to the knife I had held previously against Jason's back. The stories were awfully similar, but the details were very different. This was murder, as appose to Jason testing my mental sanity, but it was still uncanny. 'End up in the lounge without you noticing?' I read off the sheet.

'Dunno,'

'What were you having for dinner?' I asked again, wondering what these questions were. I had done many interviews with murderers and I can guarantee you dinner plans was never on the list before.

'Er, soup and croutons.' The man looked confused but answered.

'That's the first thing you said that I believe what type of soup? Is it from scratch? The best soup is made from scratch.'

'Of course from scratch, we're upper class!'

'Nice, Heinz not good enough for you, then?' Ella joked. Bloody hell she was joking with a murderer about bloody soup.

'I prefer the homemade stuff – tastes better and you can control the spices going into it.'

'Of course, so what soup did you make?'

'Leak and potato,' Ella pulled a face. 'No, it was tomato. My own recipe, of course.'

'Well, you better tell us this recipe or you might end up in jail,' Ella said, smiling a smug smile as the murderer rolled his eyes.

'You take the stem out of the tomatos and place them in a large bowl and fill with boiling water. Then you get some stale bread – only four or five days old and you have to cut very finely and evenly with precision down the middle or the slice,' he continued and to my surprise, Ella was writing it down.

'Hold up, let me just catch up. Do you wear gloves when cooking? You know – health and safety?' The man shook his head and nodded. 'Okay so four or five days old, how precisely are we cutting it? Is it like butter knife cutting shit bread or is it like grabbing the ruler and the bread knife and fine, long cuts? Do you spice before or after?'

'Fine long cuts with the proper knife, of course, and spice after. Get more surface area.'

'The police say the croutons were made when they arrived – so you got to this stage of the recipe when your wife was murdered, correct?' Ella asked, and I surprised my smile. She had just got him to admit he had the knife moments before his wife was murdered.

'I had just made them, you have to get the timings right or the croutons burn. You have to do it side by side – the croutons were oven ready when I heard the wife scream.'

'Interesting, so you had the knife in your hands when your wife was murdered. But it was found in her chest, that's an odd development. And I mean, a household would only need one bread knife, correct. Not only that your original report to the police, to us and literally in this interview you said your wife was making dinner, not you. Explain?' I looked over at Ella slightly amazed, but her jaw just clenched slightly, her hair falling over her face. I need to resist the urge to tuck the strand back

'No, I put it down, she came in to do the rest, and she must have come in and picked it up to frame me!' He hit the table, and I dipped into his brain to turn off the instinct to be violent again, but Ella put her hand on my knee and my heart fluttered. I looked over and fell into her eyes which were brimming with concern as she shook her head. She was telling me not to turn off his violent impulses.

'You know what, sir, this is taking too long.' Ella said, 'Joe, cupcake, how many questions we got left?' She asked, leaning on one of her hands as she looked at me. I quickly counted them all.

'Seventeen.' I replied, smiling one side at her. It wasn't fair she was this pretty. Not when she can't be my Soulfinder, the dates don't match up. She's someone else's guy, and I felt an irrational pang of jealousy. But why? I knew there was no chance between us but suddenly, I wanted her to be mine.

'Nah, gunna take way too long. Let's speed things up a bit,' She said, pulling her backpack onto the table. As I watched, she opened the front zip of her pocket and put on latex gloves before opening the main compartment, pulling out the evidence bag with the knife inside, the other hand putting the bag down. Even I noticed the fear on his face, and it was palpable. Ella unzipped the bag, pulling the long knife out, handing me the empty evidence bag. All three of our eyes were locked on the knife.

'It doesn't smell of spices, sir.' Ella said, sniffing it.

'It's been washed.'

'Of course it's been bloody washed; it had your missus guts all over them.' Ella snapped, and I watched him anxiously straighten his tie. Ella then threw the knife in the air, catching it again with skill. 'Still, the smell of spice can linger for three to four days after wash until the caught aroma in the blade is displaced. And nothing. You never used it on the croutons, sir, did you? Probably because it was in the chest of your secondary school loveheart.' Ella said bitterly. Her blunt tone was either comical or edging on emotionless psychopath.

'Stop that!' He shouted at her, edging back as she leaned forward.

'Why?' She whispered, holding the blade.

'It hurts.' He whispered feebly.

'Mmhmm, bullshit.' She stood up, and I realise how small she was. She must have been about five foot at my best guess and only came up to my sternum. But before I could make a comment, she full on lunged the knife into the wooden table of the surface.

'Stab,' she said, pulling it out before doing it again. 'Stab,' and again 'Stabbity stab. And one more for good luck. Stab!' She did it, and the suspect looked horrified at her, but there was a new emotion – fear. He was scared. To be fair I was pretty scared. She smiled at him.

'My darling, you scared?' She mocked him, as I went to grab her waist and force her in her chair again. But sure enough, she threw the blade at the wall behind. But before it made its resting place in the wall, it hovered in the air. The suspected man had his hand up, a sure indication it was him holding the knife telekinetically. We watched as the blade turned back around, and headed towards Ella's neck.

'You messed around a bit too much.' The suspect growled at Ella, and she just smugly smiled as the knife came to rest against Ella's neck. I stood up, but didn't move any further scared it would move the trajectory of the knife.

'Eh, I get told that a lot.' She was very calm for someone who has a knife against their neck. I was wondering when they were going to send in reinforcements. I put my arm around the back of her chair, angling my back against the observation deck.

'I would have killed you now if you didn't have a child.' He said, and Ella leaned forward.

'I get it now. I'll take that, thank you.' She grabbed the knife in the air by the handle, forcing it onto the table.

'Get what?'

'You're quite frankly a shit liar, sir.' She added, and I wondered what was going on. I hadn't picked up anything apart from the fact Ella nearly died and she continued to me a sarcastic little shit. I would never forgive myself if she died in the same room as me. 'You did stab your wife.'

'I DIDN'T' he roared, and Ella just made an over the top disapproving faces, shaking her head and signalling for him to sit. He obeyed.

'You're wife was pregnant, wasn't she. You didn't like it, and you couldn't afford it either so you tried to talk to her about having an abortion. It was against her beliefs, but you kept forcing her to have one. She kept buying baby clothes and toys and even a Moses basket but nothing from you. You didn't want the baby. In yet another argument over dinner, you got annoyed with her threats to leave you to raise the kid away from you; you thought if you just stab her stomach she'd miscarriage. So you tried to do it telekinetically – but your aim isn't too good, is it? You stabbed her four times in the chest instead. She died. You are guilty for her murder, the only thing you wanted to do was not have a kid. Now, you have nothing.' Ella said gently, as he broke into tears. She leant forward and touched his hands as he wept and wept.

'I never meant for any of this to happen, I really didn't.'

'Now that I believe. I know you didn't,' Ella whispered, getting up and signalling for me to do the same. We walked out the room as the man collapsed into a wreck on the table sobbing, finally broken with guilt and grief.


	9. Chapter 9 - Joe

**Chapter 9 – Joe**

As the door closed, both Ella and myself walked straight through the observation room watching all the machines go absolutely crazy as the suspect had effectively owned up to stabbing his wife and all because Ella had gone a bit psychopath in the room stabbing the table then throwing the knife across the room. Honestly, I wasn't too sure if she had gone psycho in the room or it was all part of the special gift that she had learnt. Jake had explained what she did wasn't her Savant gift (thank God) but she had taught herself how to read micro-expressions whatever they were and she could basically find out what someone is actually feeling by the way they react subconsciously. We walked out the room, only hesitating when Ella looked back into the room to see him full on sobbing but she dragged herself into walking again, and both of us walked out of the monitoring room.

'How did you do that?' I asked her, stopping outside the room. She turned back around, as if remembering I was there, running her hand through her hair. I had a sudden urge to tuck her fringe behind her ear but restrained myself. I had yet to have a proper conversation with her. She could also be a psychopath outside the room as well.

'Do what?' She asked sweetly, smiling sweetly. She had to look up at me slightly due to the height difference. Have mentioned how cute she is?

'How did you know he was lying?'

'It was obvious, you weren't looking in the right place,' She said softly and my heart just completely fluttered. What I would do if she was mine.

My God, Joe, just listen. Just because your brother had a baby it does not give you an opportunity to turn broody and try and get with the new girl just because she's very sweet and nice to you the second she starts speaking too you! Behave yourself!

'And where would be the right place to look?' I asked lowly, suddenly aware of how flirtatious that comment seemed. 'No, I didn't mean like that –' I quickly said as Ella just frowned slightly at me, but still kept that cheeky grin on her face.

'Ella, it's nice to have you back at base again!' Susan came out of the monitoring room. The elder woman closed the door behind her, adjusted her suede suit and hugged the smaller girl. Ella laughed slightly and hugged her back. 'Oh, it's been so long! How long has it been this time?' She asked.

'Only two month,' Ella said, laughing when Susan rolled her eyes.

'Too long Ella! You know we are more than happy to offer you a full time job here, especially with your skill set,' Susan said

'I know, you've been saying it since I've been old enough to work in the UK... legally that is. I'll consider it.'

'Miss Evans –'

'We've also been over that, it's Benedict since the paperwork was confirmed you know, when I was five.' Ella simply said, but her tone completely dropped, even though she was joking the mention of "Evans" completely threw her off.

'Oh yes, sorry, Miss Benedict, you always say you'll consider it.' Susan shook her head, and Ella looked over at me and pulled a face as if apologising for Susan's behaviour. I just smiled back, rather enjoying the show and finding out a bit more about my current crush. I need to get control of myself. This was the one time I regretted my gift not working on myself properly. Given the chance, I could just wipe out that memory and we would be safe and I wouldn't remember ever having a crush on Ella – a girl I've met less than ten minutes ago.

'I do consider it every time, but I've had other commitments back in Colorado,' Ella explained politely, pulling her jacket a bit tighter. She seemed a bit uncomfortable and I couldn't tell if it was because of Susan or because of me.

'Oh, Eleanor, you've become cold again haven't you? You still haven't got that gift under control?' Susan drilled her, and Ella shrugged.

'Joe, have you got a hoody on you? In your locker?' I nodded – she knew I did. I always have a hoody of some sort close by just in case we had to go out at night. I was fully prepared for every situation. Thinking about it a bit closer, I telekinetically unlocked my locker, pulling out the light grey hoody that apparently I left in there and flew it up. I grabbed it before it flew past me. My aim and control on telekinesis wasn't very good as was probably evident. I slowly walked up to Ella, gently taking off the thin jacket she had, and met her eyes. Very quickly she looked away, but I just pulled my hoody over her head, smiling softly as she looked like a dumpling in the hoody that was meant to be big on me. I backed away as three girls followed Michael out of the room that lead to the observation deck.

'Everything alright, Susan?' He asked, coming up behind Ella and putting his hand on her back. I guess he noticed that wasn't her jumper and I got a very sideways look. Uh oh. The girls, however, stood behind him blocking the corridor, giving each other odd looks that they must all understand – leaving me clueless as to why they were all grinning like Cheshire cats.

'Can you try and get your sister to control her ice gift?' Susan simply asked, and I frowned. Ice gift?

'We have all tried, Ma'am, you know how stubborn she is,' Michael joked, patting her back as she just looked down and mumbled "I can hear you" to the ground. But I was reeling – suddenly I could see the similarities between them two (and height wasn't one of them) that it took my breath away. The tallest girl in the background – just under six foot by my calculations – drew in her breath as I smile warmly at Ella. I would do anything to run over there and just hug her until she's warm against whilst everyone else practically scolds her because she doesn't have control of her gifts.

That sounds familiar.

'Now, you get these four home and get them ready for Pretty Muddy, that's if you think you can do it Ella with your decreased temperature.' Susan said.

'Yeah, why wouldn't I be able to do it?' She asked quickly.

'That's the correct attitude, now I'll see you later girls, Michael.' Susan summed up, walking back into the room. As soon as the door to the monitoring room, I turned around to see Michael walking off talking to Ella, her still tucked up snugly in my jumper, the three girls falling in behind me with the smallest blonde one turning around to look at me again. All five of them disappeared down the stairs, leaving me with my mouth open as they walked away. I prayed this wouldn't be the last time I saw Ella.

'Good job bro. You smashed that.'

'Well, we say he smashed it, we both know he just sat there staring at Ella.' Jason said, walking out beside Jason from the observation deck. I blushed slightly but hid it. They saw that. 'I can see why though, she is fit.'

'Don't.' I simply said as we followed in their path, but I could already see them walking out the door. 'Jake,'

'Yeah?' He said, walking down the stairs but hadn't picked up on my glances to Ella by the door, or the fond looks I keep giving her. I need to get my head together and keep her out of it. But a part deep in my head was whispering _Soulfinder_ but the rational larger whole of me was telling me it was impossible. Not only would someone pick up that it was possible, but she was completely out of my league. She was cute, beautiful even as well as talented. I had the personality appeal of a potato left in the recycling for four weeks. Not only that, she was two months older than me. It was impossible, and I would just have to grit my teeth and get over my crush and prays that she doesn't want to work with me even though it would be such a shame.

'What's her actual Savant gifts?'

'She is a very, very gifted Savant. She's the seventh child, like you, but both her Mum and Dad were seventh children, and her Nan was also the seventh child. So she's very powerful. Her main two gifts are projection and making ice, effectively. She can project out of her body to anywhere at this moment. All she needs to do is focus and think about it and she's there. Not only that she can decrease temperature of fluids. When she uses her gifts too much, or is around something that makes her increasingly anxious, her temperature drops. Not only that, she can nick other peoples gifts if they aren't shielding enough and she can hear telepathy.' Jake explained.

'Bloody Hell,'

'Yeah, so I don't really care when she doesn't have control. I mean, I can barely control one gift – she had four.'

'Wait, her temperature drops when she's using a gift? Was she using a gift in the room?'

'Not that we picked up,' Jake said and he pulled a face as we walked through the door leading out to where we parked up. Sure enough, Ella and Michael with the three girls – who I recognised only now as the younger Benedict boy's Soulfinder's – Sky, Phoenix and Crystal. I was amazed how much Phoenix had changed, considering last time I saw her I was undercover at the club in Soho when she was in the grasps of a very evil group of Savant's who abused her mentally. Sky was there too – I remember us having a very odd conversation back stage of the club whilst they were all setting up the cameras. Her Soulfinder and my brother were doing the wiring, and we were left back stage to effectively do nothing. So we had the odd conversation about toffee pie and then bubbly milk and if it could be made through SodaStream. I had never met Crystal, though, but her sister and Trace one time they came over. I seemed connected to their family, but not to Ella.

But her temperature plummeted just now, didn't it? And Jake said that only happens if she uses her gifts or she gets anxious. So if she wasn't using her gifts, her temperature must have plummeted because she was anxious about something. She's obviously used to these interviews and done it before, so I doubt it was that. But something made her anxious – and my stomach dropped. It was me. Something about me made her so anxious, her temperature plummeted. She was anxious of me.

Why?


	10. Chapter 10 - Ella

**Chapter 10 – Ella**

'Whatever you do, don't laugh,' I warned the girls. I stood in my bedroom at Michael's house in the short shorts we had all chosen to wear, and a bright pink Cancer Research shirt with the writing "REAL WOMEN WEAR MUD" across the front. Not only that, I was the last one to get decked in the typical Hawaiian fancy dress – a flower garland or a lei, a flower headband and wristbands and a long pink hula skirt. But the worst part about this was the flower bra that came with it. I say bra, it was more two plastic bowls with flowers stick onto them. Michael having no idea what bra sizes even were ordered them all in the "one size fits all" category but I can guarantee you. One size does not fit all boob sizes – unless the one size fits all category gives some space to store mid-run sweets. Crystal, Phee and Sky had all put their costumes, which fitted perfectly, and it was only me that was having trouble with the bra.

'We won't, just come out!' Phee shouted, and as soon as I opened the door, all three of them laughed.

'What happened to not laughing?' I asked, adjusting my hula skirt.

'We're not laughing,' Sky said managing to keep a straight face for the first time, and I just shook my head.

'Bullshit!' I joked back. To be fair, I was a mess. The other three somehow managed to pull it off whilst I... yeah I didn't.

'Ella, why are your boobs so small!' Crystal said coming over to look at the monstrosity that was the flowery cups. 'I can actually fit my Capri sun down there,' Crystal telekinetically moved her sealed fruit juice pouch and put it down the bra, and sure enough it fitted and filled up the cup causing the girls to lose it again.

'Okay, yes I get it. My chest never hit puberty like yours all did.' Honestly, there was hardly anything there. At a mere 34B, it added to the look that I was barely twelve, and not nearly twenty one. And the girls found it hilarious that I had nothing.

'You look fine, Ella.' Phoenix said, coming over and hugging me. She must have picked up I was starting to feel self conscious and came over to protect me. I like Phoenix, as much as she does join in on the fun she knows when enough is enough. I am a joker just like everyone else in, but there's only so much of people laughing at me that I can stand without my mental sanity leaking away – and we were standing on that threshold now. I always found it worse when family laughed at me, because I couldn't escape them. When friends did it, I could ignore them for the time being and go back when I was less annoyed and had time to understand the joke. My brain was like that, raked with anxiety and anxious thoughts. If something like that happened, I needed time to just chill and to breath before I could see the funny side of it. But when you're at a family event, and people are laughing at you for sitting crossed legged at the dinner table in a restaurant and making jokes about how "ladylikeness isn't inherited", it gets me down.

'Of course you look fine, wait if you just...' Sky came up behind me, undoing the four rope strips that held the bra together, pulling them a bit tighter so the bra didn't look overly stupid. She then tied it, tying a bow to finish. 'See, you're fine. You might just get some mud down there.'

'To be fair, we're gunna be getting mud everywhere so we may as well say goodbye to our dignity,' Crystal said, sitting down on my bed and playing with the Disney blanket I had on my bed. I had to always make sure at home there was a blanket nearby, just in case. I had to be prepared for every eventuality.

'Exactly, and I think we have to admit Ella's gunna look like a tit in front of her Soulfinder,' Phee joked quietly and I rolled my eyes.

'She looked like a tit stabbing the table.'

'I knew what I was doing! He was clearly being triggered by the events making him more susceptible to telling the truth. Every time he mentioned cutting, he winced. Or at least the muscle under his right eye did. He was clearly uncomfortable. When I threw the knife he was good enough to catch it.' I explained.

'Okay, you were a clever tit then.' Sky said, shrugging. I laughed; she didn't so easily use the language I use. Growing up in a house of boys, you eventually learn to speak in the jokey-crude language they use. "Tit" was one of the more friendlier slang names we called each other when we messed up.

'Joe's cute, isn't he?' Phee said.

'Alright, you have a husband. We _really_ need to get you under control.' I simply said.

'Nah, she's good. He is really good looking, and I mean those legs were doing something for his bum too. Not to mention he has the biggest crush on you and thinks you're cute – I saw it when he came into the room.'

'Stop.' I simply said.

'She did see it – she squealed and everything. I'm pretty sure Joe heard it. Jake was very confused as to why she squealed. We had to say she's into shitty forensic shows and were just excited.' Michael said walking into the room. He wasn't used to having to look after four girls and clearly knocking wasn't on the priority lists. 'You all look stupid.' He simply said.

'That's the point of it.' Crystal said.

'Yeah, you're not wrong. Let's get you up to Dorney Lake, then.' Michael said, clinking his car keys in his hand.

'Does Michael know?' I whispered to Crystal.

'Not about the Soulfinder thing – we joked around saying Joe looked like he liked you. I told him my gift wasn't showing me anything between you two – you're clear. For now,' she whispered back and I smiled at her relieved. That would have been tricky to explain.

Dorney Lake was a man-made lake, set up next to the famous Windsor Race Course, which is then near Windsor Castle where the Queen lives occasionally. However, the lake is most famous for its use in the London 2012 Olympic Games, providing host to the rowing events. I'm pretty sure you could even see the events on YouTube. I think that was the only time England felt so patriotic – during the Summer Olympics. After that we went back to moaning about the idiots who put jam on top of cream or vice versa and hating everyone and apologising to lampposts if they got in the way. Welcome to England.

However, at the top end of the river, where all the pontoons were moored had been swamped by pink ladies. A small fairground had been set up, with bouncy castles and slides, merchandise stands, hot food and a Subway van, as well as the other small stands going left right and centre. From where we parked, only a few hundred feet away, you could see the start like that doubles as the finish line, and the last obstacle; an inflatable slide going into a muddy water pit. We all walked excitedly over to the pitch, spotting loads of other woman from Maui. Even though we were all Savant's and worked in some of the most secretive jobs in England, we still managed to look like normal functioning humans during fundraising events.

As we approached a relatively empty spot of grass, free from left over mud or wasn't crowded, we set down a picnic blanket and sat on the floor. We had managed to completely book out the last wave of the event, meaning the course was just completely muddy and wrecked, but almost most would have gone home from the earlier events they had completed so we could do this more safely.

'Sup Eleanor.' A man from behind me said, and initially I jumped, having been engrossed in a conversation we were having about Cornwall. Tomorrow morning, when Sky and Crystal were both awake, I'd drop them off at the Bracknell train station with their tickets to London Waterloo, where they would head their separate directions for three days to see family. As my family was here, and Phoenix had no family or friends – or at least their where bounce – she would stay with Michael and myself here. On Thursday night, they would meet us back at the train station, where we would pick them up and sleep (well, they'll sleep. I wouldn't.) then Friday morning we had to prepare all day for the party.

The engagement party was to celebrate the engagement (duh) of two of the oldest members of Maui, who didn't realise their Soulfinder compatibility due to some errors on the systems when they first got hired. When they realised, they tried to speak telepathically and wa-la! Simple as. In celebration, they were throwing a huge party for everyone who worked at Maui in the Guildford town hall, and they had even booked out the 4 acres of land that was offered to deck with gazebo's. And to make things more extravagant, they had a gender-neutral theme – "Angels and masks". So you could decide when you agreed to attend if you wanted to wear a mask or a pair of wings based on the colour you would draw. Hell yeah – this part even had a colour draw you had to pick from. The colour you picked was the colour of your wings/mask/dress/suit for the party. However, the colours would be picked last minute to ensure no swapping, and the dresses were already brought and just needed a fitting. And that was why we were told to be free for Friday – to fit the wings and dresses before the party starting 7pm sharp. Open bar. We had even taken the liberty of booking hotel rooms so we could drink without worrying about driving. I had to book my own hotel room by myself as I wasn't exactly the best person to have company with when you're trying to sleep. Basically Friday looked like a massive drink up before me spending my night alone. The things you read about in magazines about wild parties and hook ups and one night stands... they're not real kids.

I turned around to see Jake standing behind me grinning. I jumped up and hugged him, and he laughed grabbing my waist with one hand. 'Mind the kid,' He said, and I let go of him.

'How've you been, hun?' he asked, and I shrugged. Jake was like my second brother. He always had my back on missions where my actual brothers had left me because they thought what I was doing was stupid and irresponsible. Jake roughly matched me on the impulsive scale which was probably why we haven't had any joint missions together in a while. We were horrific. Do stupid things now, think about consequences later. Honestly, I'm placing bets on that's how he met his Soulfinder, got married and got his wife pregnant in the space of six weeks.

'I'm alright, you?'

'Alright. Haven't seen you in a while. Actually, I've seen you thanks to Skype –' Occasionally when Michael was asleep and I wanted someone to talk too, I would see if Jake was up. Having twin girls meant his sleep pattern was messed up like mine. 'I mean, I haven't seen the mess you normally leave in a while.'

'I don't leave a mess?' I questioned.

'Mmhmm, what was it last time? Oh yeah, you reorganised the bullets in the storage room.'

'I organised them into the correct boxes that's not a mess.'

'Ella, you colour coordinated them. You didn't put them in correct boxes; you took off the labels, wrote Crayola colour names on them, and then put them in the boxes.' He gave me an evil glare, and I notice that the twin he was holding had started to wake up. Oh my God she was so cute.

'You're welcome,' I joked and he rolled his eyes. 'That was a onetime thing.'

'The time before that you ended up dating a Mafia leader.'

'Wasn't dating, I never agreed. Only suggested.' I laughed and he shrugged.

'Same thing,' He said, and the twin in his arm started to gurgle but he just looked confused.

'You gunna sort her out or do I? Did I say congratulations?' I said, laughing as he rolled his eyes. I had seen the twins over Skype and pictures, of course. I had Whatsapped him a few hours after his wife gave birth to say congratulations but I never had seen the twins in person. I could see the resemblance to both Jake and his Soulfinder Leannah, even though the twins were only a few weeks old.

'Wanna hold her?' He asked, and I knew that secretly meant "Help me, I have no idea what I'm doing alone", as Leannah was doing the race with us he clearly didn't know what to do. I had to give Jake something though; he went from being a Lad, to settle down, married and expecting children within a few weeks. He was doing the best that he could do on no experience. I couldn't do much better. But I still took the smaller twin out of his arms (the only thing you could use to distinguish both the baby twins apart was their size – one was quite a bit smaller than the other one.)

'Can you just look after her for a few minutes whilst I find Joe? He's parked up someone in the car park and doesn't know where we are,' Jake explained, looking at his phone where his brother must have text him.

'Of course, go. Enjoy your freedom.' I told him as he handed me over the baby bag. He said thanks, hugging me again and adorably telling his daughter to be good for me, before walking off to find his brother – my Soulfinder. Oh God.

'Have you considered if you and Joe actually got together, she'd be your niece?' Crystal asked, and I paused for a second. Well, _now_ I was considering it. But sure enough, the girls swamped around the small baby I held in my arms, and I adjusted the dungaree's that she was wearing so it was straight again. The baby giggled slightly as I tiggled her tummy, but she settled down quick enough and just held my finger as she watched the world go on around her.

'Okay, can we just make a deal – no jokes about my Soulfinder or whatever until we're in Cornwall? It's just pretty awkward knowing there's people around us who could be eavesdropping.'

'I doubt the three week old is going to tell anyone.' Phee joked, tiggling the baby slightly so she laughed again. I must admit – it was a heart-warming noise hearing one of the twins laughing. Considering they're only three weeks old, the twins seem really happy and bubbly. I didn't even think that was possible.

'I think that deal is fair enough, I mean Ella knew before anyone else in her family us getting with our Soulfinder's and she didn't make as many jokes to us. It's just fair. However, in Cornwall you will get slaughtered with them,' Sky said sweetly before turning slightly menacing at the end.

'Okay fine fair enough. Then nothing when we're back in Colorado,' I added and all three of them groaned. 'Nothing.'

'Nothing until you've had time to think and firmly decided what you're going to do. That's the deal,' Crystal said, and I did a double take. I never knew she could make bargains so well.

'Okay. Deal.' And the baby giggled again, her little hand holding onto the flower wristband. Gently, I slid it off so she could hold it without pulling my wrist around every direction.


	11. Chapter 11 - Joe

**Chapter 11 – Joe**

" _ **I've just parked next to the 500m sign to the right, where are you, wifey and the twins?"**_ I text Jake, putting my phone back into my jeans pocket before cutting the engine to my car. My brother decided to leave earlier than expected and way before I got ready, so I said I'd drive myself down to the event in my old car. I had left nearly half an hour ago, getting caught in the traffic leading up to the river. As the last wave was completely booked out by everyone at base it meant near enough everyone who was still at this event was family and friends of those running. More like a giant gathering of all the English Savants and some others as well.

" **Just with some of the girls, meet you by the 100m sign."** Jake replied near enough instantly, and I got out the car, clicking the button to lock it after. Not only that, I also pulled the door handle to make sure it was closed before joining the river of pink girls walking down the side of Dorney Lake to the starting line. From here, I could see the peaks of some of the tents and a bit to the left on the other side of the river, a giant pink inflatable slide that was covered in mud. I was strangely looking forward to seeing this. Some of the ladies in front of me were dressed in tutu skirts and bobble headbands, all decked in pink. Everyone looked ridiculous but it was all for a good cause. I had spent the time I got home from the interview with Ella to the time I was leaving simply donating to all of the sponsorship pages from the girls and woman I work with that I could find. I realised I hadn't actually changed and was still in the slightly rumpled black shirt and a pair of dark blue skinny jeans. No wonder why Ella didn't really look at me like I was something, I was still a mess.

Ella was something beautiful, though, I thought as I walked down past the 250m sign, amazed at how far the walk was down the river. Of course, the river went on for over a kilometre or even two down the flat a bit further, and we were heading up to the top of it. I couldn't shake off the way she looked at me, or just how beautiful she really was. She didn't show much personality with me, just deflecting my questions but the way she spoke to Susan with such respect was honourable, and she seemed so polite. Probably something to do with being American – they were always incurably polite.

'Oi, bro.' Jake called as he was standing slightly off the path. He had his arms crossed, and no signs of my nieces anywhere.

'You forgot your kids,' I called back, and he laughed slightly.

'Leannah's looking after one for a second, and I handed over the other one to a friend to come and pick you up. I mean, if you say you can trace people based on their unique thought patterns surely you could have found by yourself,' Jake asked standing by my side as we walked up to the mooring bays for the boats. The girls from base had multiplied and had now completely covered the small area that was meant for the public for these events, most of which were in tutus.

'I could have found you; it's still tricky trying to narrow down on where you are based on it though.'

'Tried everything you can?'

'I have tried, but I'm clearly missing something.'

'Yeah, just what,' Jake said, but it wasn't in a menacing tone. I mean all my family had gifts they could mess around with and had little to no social consequences. My brother, Quinn, who also worked at base but was due to come to this event a little later as his shift didn't finish until six and the race started at 6:15 – and there wasn't much hope of him making the hour long journey in fifteen. Well, his gift is basically calming people down. He can calm people down in seconds just by flexing his gift. He had no issues doing that at home. If anything, him flexing his gift meant that everyone in the house was strangely calm and at times half asleep they were so relaxed. If I tried to experience with my gift like Quinn did, I would just erase myself from my family's memories in seconds.

'I'll figure it out in time.' I simply said. 'Where are my nieces?' I asked, excited to see them again.

'Get your paternal instincts in line, kid, they're mine.' Jake joked. It was an ongoing joke between us two. I mean, we both had wanted kids as much as the next person but it was only when Leannah got pregnant that I wanted a kid more and more. I was so willing to babysit the twins I would accept any opportunity. 'Currently, I've shrugged one off to someone who's got maternal instinct.' We stood still and I pulled myself up short. Who was he on about? I frowned at him as he pointed towards the floor twenty to twenty five feet away.

Sure enough, on the floor there was a picnic blanket with Ella and the three girls she was in England with – her brothers Soulfinder's if my memory was correct. Sure enough, the smaller twin – Amelia, was sitting in Ella's lap giggling. I watched on as Ella started singing "I dreamed a dream" for Les Mis to the taller girl with an impressive blonde crop of curly hair, and sure enough she sang the song lovely. A sweet, sugar like tone. Almost like the girl who sings in the back of the new Freeview advert, but more heart touching. I caught myself wishing for a second that she was my Soulfinder but the damned dates didn't add up. However, we hadn't tried speaking telepathically – maybe we could be? There was something about her that made it impossible for her to get out of my mind. I worked for the last three hours to make the thoughts hush down but then seeing her again, singing jokingly whilst little Amelia sat in her lap, leaning against her stomach and looking up at her slightly, triggered them up again. Even the baby was fascinated with her.

'I can't tell who has the instincts more – you or Ella.' He joked as I watched her.

'She's really good with kids,'

'Don't say that to her, she doesn't like it. But yeah, she'll be a natural one day.' Jake said, crossing his arms. 'She's grown up a lot since she first started. It's... unreal.'

'What do you mean?'

'Well, I joined based when I was eighteen, she was twelve, and Michael was fourteen. We three were the youngest recruits they ever had in a group. When I was 23, I had to take over Michael's jobs for a while when he was nineteen. He got a call when he had just got to work. I was there; actually, we were in the office we shared. I never minded hanging around with them – even though they're young they're very smart and intellectual and whilst they can both be very childish, they can have really intellectual conversations – especially Ella. They're both very articulated. Michael got a call and suddenly just went white as a sheet and said he had to go. He didn't quite know what to do. I didn't question him too much, just helped him find the next flight to Colorado and get his bags packed. Turns out, Ella attempted suicide during the night. Her brother, whose gift is in medicine if I remember correct, thankfully waked up when he realised something wasn't right and found Ella in her bed practically dead. Barely breathing, such a faint pulse they thought she was gone. He did something just to make her throw up all the tablets. She basically overdosed, and it wasn't by accident. She left everyone suicide notes – including me for some reason. So Michael flew over for three weeks, got Ella back up on her feet and got her working slowly. He came back over when she was functioning a bit better, but he's been paranoid every time he gets a call from her parents or brothers.'

'Why?' Was the only thing I could whisper? I wanted to go over there and hug her, tell her that she wouldn't be alone and if she wanted me too, I could be there for her.

'Well, she didn't mind working for Maui. She had freedom and support, and her brother asked her to work for the FBI with him. He didn't realise he was pushing her too far and to do things she never wanted to look at. She didn't want to think she was letting anyone down so she didn't ask for help for that exact reason. Not going to lie, Ella's always been impulsive, if she thinks she can see a way out she'll do it and think about the consequences after. It was... horrible.' Jake whispered as he no doubt was remembering the experience.

'She left you a note? Why?'

'I don't know. I never read it – she never gave me the chance. She hid it before I visited her. Three weeks after she overdosed I went over to visit her, and she was still rough but she was getting okay. She wasn't as bad as she was that night. But that was the worst I've ever seen her. She's grown up a lot since then. She's still the same kid, but I mean – you'll change once you've seen some of the worst things Maui had to offer. It's made her grow up too soon.' Jake simply said.

'That kind of thing makes everyone grow up too soon.'

'I guess – she didn't deserve it. No one does. I just fear that she'll head back down that pathway. She seems better and smarter despite still having mental health illnesses. Many people think that if she finds her Soulfinder, it'll all clear up. It won't, but -'

'Can the rest of the ladies participating in the last wave – 6:15pm – please come to the start line for our warm up!' The lady said across the rudimentary tannoy system, and some of the girls started clapping. The majority of the crowd either walked to the start area, and their family across the finish line and over to the makeshift bleachers on a hill.

'Amelia's been good for you, El?' Jake said as Ella got up, picking up the baby bag skilfully with one arm. She adjusted herself to hold the baby before noticing I was even there. She smiled kind of sadly at me, before handing Amelia over to Jake – and she looked so sad that Ella was leaving.

'Of course she was good,' Ella cooed, and the baby perked back up again. How the Hell does she do that? It was absolutely magical. I looked at Ella for a second, taking in her costume and how good she looks when she was under no pressure from work. Where she grinned, a dimple appeared in her left cheek that was the size of a bowl; her eyes shone so bright, a bright green colour. Her blonde hair was in two French plaits by her side. She was in a bright pink shirt which strangely suited her, and was in short shorts revealing her skinny legs that weren't tanned. There was a scar on her leg that was quite jagged across her calf and a smaller one on her thigh which I could just see through the hula skirt.

'Nandos tomorrow? We need our yearly catch up.' Jake said to her, and I followed the conversation like one follows the tennis ball during Wimbledon.

'Of course, just text me later. Anyway, see you after.' Ella jogged back to her friends who kind of stood behind her awkwardly. She said a word to them before heading over to the start line where most of the woman now stood.

'Hey hun.' Leannah came up behind us, holding Isla – the older twin – on her hip. Leannah has only been living in England for a year, having grown up in Australia, and still had the hints of the accent in her voice. I watched awkwardly as they both kissed for a second. They are what a Savant child would imagine when his or her parents talk about Soulfinder. They looked like picture perfect couple and they were brilliant together, and even their children seemed in awe at them.

'You don't have to do this if you don't feel up for it,' Jake said to her softly, his hand brushing against her stomach. She had lost a fair amount of baby weight but not all of it yet.

'I'm fine, Jake, don't worry.' Leannah said, laughing off his concern. 'Joe - thanks for helping him. He still has no idea what he's doing.' Leannah turned to me, hugging me slightly before passing over Isla to me.

'I can hear you, hun, you know that?' Jake joked but didn't seem too annoyed.

'Last call for those in the 6:15pm wave – come to the start line to get this party started!' The woman announced, and Leannah turned around. The twins giggled at the same time. Jake bent down and gave the woman – his wife – another kiss before she ran off.

'Come on then,' Jake said in a soft tone, either to the twins or to me. He only used that tone when he was trying to calm someone down and the fact he was speaking to me in that tone of voice set off an alarm in my head.


	12. Chapter 12 - Ella

**Chapter 12 – Ella**

 _Half an hour later_

'How do you tell the difference between Jake's twins – they are identical.' Phoenix said. We were coming up to the 2km mark and were at the front of the group. We had run up until now but decided to walk in order to have a good old gossip. The only obstacles we had overcome was six solid hurdles, some tunnels we had to crawl through in thick mud and four inflatable pink hurdles you had to roll across. We were already covered in mud, but I seemed muddier than everyone else. Mainly because I came preparing to get covered in mud, and refused to leave unless I was covered. In about 200 meters another obstacle was coming up – strings in various diagonals we had to climb through. Some of those who were doing the event seriously and were running were already tackling this one whilst the volunteers were throwing watery mud at them.

'Funny how identical twins are identical,' I joked, but she gave me a sideways look. 'Amelia is smaller and the younger one. She's a lot more giggly then Isla.' I explained, and they nodded.

'How do you know them so well?'

'When Jake can't settle them down, he puts me on Skype and makes loads of ice patterns. It calms them down.'

'Like Elsa?'

'I don't appreciate the comparison, but yeah. Like Elsa.' I answered Crystal as she hugged me to her side. There's about three times a joke can be repeated with it still being funny. However, when you're compared to Elsa by grown men at least seven times a day for over six months it's not funny. I mean, I don't mind kids doing it because for them it's funny and it's logical for them to assume it. They don't have the correct perspectives to know what true and what's a cartoon so I could deal with the haggle of young cousins calling me Elsa, and getting confused between Ella and Elsa. I can understand. But when my brothers do it – they're going to get kneed in the privates if they're not careful.

'Okay, we're away from Joe's family correct?' Sky asked, and I looked around. We were pretty clear from everyone. The woman running the entire thing was at least 15 meters ahead, and those who are walking it were at least 250m back. Leannah was the only family I could assume would tell anyone, and she was at the back of the group to start with, walking the whole thing.

'Yes, fine, ask questions if it'll mean we can enjoy the two weeks without having these daily Q and A's.' I snapped.

'Sorry, we'll keep it simple. We just want to know you're okay and you're not getting in too deep.' Phoenix said, and I stopped where I was looking at them both. These three were so insistent on hooking me up; I guessed they didn't stop to think about how I was feeling. I understood, I was one of those people that hid their emotions and got internally annoyed when people didn't consider what I was hiding even though it was all completely emotional.

'What brought this on?' I asked, started to walk again. Before the wires, I got down and belly crawled straight under the wires as they took the slower but more logical approach of climbing through them. If they were sensory lasers, they would have triggered the alarms – I thought. I forgot the girls weren't trained to Maui secret standards. We don't go in looking for trouble; we slide through security and get the results we need.

'We discussed it when you handed Amelia back. We've all been so absorbed with the prospects of you getting with Joe we didn't consider the reasons you didn't want too. You have reasons for everything.' Phee simply said, first to make it through the wires after me. She flicked some of the dry mud off her arms. I was surprised it was her who made it through first – whilst she works on and off with the FBI, she never had the proper training that both Vick and I had to go through. But I suppose her thief days had led to some quick swift movements.

'Is this an apology?' I asked as Sky passed through the last wire, followed shortly by Crystal as we started to walk to the next obstacle; the mud pit.

'Sort of.' Sky admitted, and I knew that she suddenly felt guilty. 'I mean, we all just wanted you to be happy and complete, but if you know it wouldn't make you like that then we understand. I mean, we haven't told anyone.'

'I think you're lying about that.'

'I haven't told anyone.' Sky said, and I knew she was telling the truth, but Zed still knew.

'So how did your Soulfinder know then,' I asked and turned immediately to Crystal, who was conveniently looking for clouds. 'Oh yeah?'

'He asked!' she simply replied, still looking into the sky.

'Wait, why did Zed ask you about Ella's Soulfinder?'

'He foresaw me holding a kid and then freaked out thinking it was my kid. It would make more sense though if it was Jake's kid –' because that was the only logical assumption. 'Xav knows too.' Crystal said and I rolled my eyes.

'Yves doesn't. You're welcome.' Phee said and I hugged her too my side. Such a good secret keeper, this one.

'Okay, so we'll tell them not to tell anyone and you have logical reasons for postponing it shall we say. We'll be fine then. We can give you the time you want to think it over. If you don't want to do it, we'll trust that you're making the right decision because whenever you make a mistake, you'll correct it properly, and we'll just drop it.' Sky explained. 'Sorry.'

'No, I understand you was doing it with the best intentions, don't apologise.' I simply said as we walked around the grass corner leading to the mud pit. We would hear the volunteers talking through the megaphone to those who was clearing going through the pit as we speak, but we was yet to see the upcoming pit of mud. Those who were running and was now past the half way mark and was running back, through some more obstacles absolutely covered from the knees down in mud. Only from the knee's? I didn't sign up for this. I signed up to be covered in mud.

'We still nearly forced you into a relationship that you wouldn't be comfortable just because we thought it was right. For that, we're sorry.' Crystal said, and I heard her voice crack slightly. Crystal barely ever cries but for some reason she felt the burden of guilt because it was her gift. She felt she was responsible for pushing me to do this.

But here's the thing I wasn't going to admit to anyone; she made me wonder what it would be like. The most part of me was dying to talk to Joe about it but the small, anxious fragment of my brain was keeping me from even having a coherent sentence with him. Earlier, when he was with Jake when I had to hand Amelia back, my brain refused to even speak to him. I was appearing so hostile and hateful towards him and I didn't mean too. I was too worried I'd cock it up, and by being so scared I was cocking it up anyway. Before long, he would learn to hate me because of the way I acted around him and I would have fucked this wonderful event up for both of us. I knew that I would be bad for him before it had even started and the events of the last few hours have only gone and cemented that theory in place. For his sake, it was better if I just never spoke to him again. I was fairly confident he didn't like me in any way shape or form, and even when he saw me about half an hour ago there was no emotion showing – a dramatic change from the slight appreciation he showed after we did the interview together. So, the next step would just be disgust, or hatred. I have ruined this all just from me being, well, me. I couldn't go speak to Joe now; I had no self esteem or self confidence to start with. Oh God – why did I have to make this such a mess?

I realised I had remained silent for a few minutes now, the girls thinking I was probably sulking.

'Nah, you was doing what was correct from your perspective.' I simply said, as we approached the mud pit. I say pit, it was a giant pink swimming pool filled with slightly watered down mud, with ropes across the top so you had to crawl through it.

'You forgive us?' Phee said.

'Of course, now let's get muddy.' I added, pushing back my anxieties to the back of my brain for a second as I climbed over the inflatable side and belly flopped straight into the mud whilst one of the volunteers shouted "that's the way you do it!" across the megaphone at me.


	13. Chapter 13 - Joe

**Chapter 13 – Joe**

'How did you find it working with Ella, then?' Jake asked me as we sat by the finishing line, each one of us occupying one of the twins each. Amelia sat in my lap, half asleep but half fascinating by the ever moving world we were in. It was very hard to get her to settle down when we were outside, as her eyes did not stop darting around to everything that moved. And considering some of the attractions here were from a funfair I just accepted she would be a lively baby to babysit during the race. All the girls started about ten or fifteen minutes ago, and no one was to show yet.

'I didn't really do much,' I simply said, kissing Amelia on the head as she grabbed my finger.

'Yeah, I think she did enough talking for both of you.'

'How did she teach herself to read lies like that?'

'She's had chronic insomnia since she was 12 – she can only sleep for one whole cycle which is 90 minutes, maybe. She has most of the night free – either to study, to work or to do whatever the Hell she wants to. She's always been interested in psychology and why people act like they do and she wanted to know how people lie. I mean, she's been living under a lie all her life. Ever since after the crash she's been very sensitive to emotions. She could pick up when people were lying to her since she was about six. It's just developed on from there I guess.'

Jeez – she sounded way more intellectual than I could ever be. I couldn't really focus at school, finding it hard to do my own work. I always tried to split the homework's between Jason and myself, but ended up copying from his homework the day or even lesson before it was due in. Yeah, I was one of those. But the fact that she would stay up for the majority of the night researching into things such as the muscles in the face and the combination of muscle contractions to create human emotions and then learn them off by heart and be able to detect them for only a fragment of a second took serious skill. She was obviously born to be a spy or detective, or whatever the Hell she actually does in the FBI and Maui.

Amelia made a noise that sounded like she was going to cry, so I quickly grabbed her favourite toy duck and started moving it in front of her, making weird little noises as I made it dance in front of her. She laughed slightly, chubby arms reaching to get the toy. I passed it to her and she settled back down happily, watching all the moving people and flashing lights.

'I never thought you would be the good one with kids in the family,' Jake admitted and I realised he must have watched the entire act. Isla, who had drifted off, was then placed back into the car seat and tucked in. Just Amelia who was up, then.

'Who did you think showed serious promise?' I asked, rather than deny it. My gift came in very handy when it came to persuading the twins to sleep, or making them completely forget the thing that scared them or made them sad for no reason. I didn't want my nieces to be upset – it seemed a fairly equal ethical rights consideration.

'Carly, obviously.' Jake said, and I nodded. The oldest member (technically) of our siblings was the only girl in the family. 'Alfie never showed any good signs or knowing how to react, really.' Alfie was Carly's twin brother, born a day after her.

'So Carly was a yes, Alfie was a no. Randy would definitely be a no.'

'Bloody hell, he's so up on the "no" list I haven't let him hold them yet.'

Randy was the third eldest in the family and was a serious alcoholic. I can't remember the last time I saw him sober. My family have tried their best to help him and I even went to the extent of knocking myself unconscious to remove the thoughts of all alcohol in his mind – but he just started the habit anew. Jake, having turned over a new leaf when he met Leannah, warned Randy when he told him that his wife was pregnant, he would never see his nieces if he was drunk, was firm to his word. When the family came to visit when the twins were in hospital, Jake simply escorted Randy out of the ward when he appeared with a bottle of Southern Comfort in his unwashed blazer pocket.

'What about Rian?'

'Hmm, it kind of flickered between yes and no. One second, he was very maternal and caring and the next second he seemed to distance himself greatly between himself and kids. So for now, I would say maybe not. Quinn was always a yes. You were a flickering as well – but now you're definitely a yes. Who knew you would be good with kids?' He said, as Amelia finally drifted off again. I gently cradled the kid, putting her in the other car seat and then the blanket over her.

'Here they come,' I told Jake, as the first person crossed the line. They didn't seem too muddy, and I recognise the person as Sicca. A middle aged woman who was very serious about her fitness and her ability. Not only that, her gift allowed her to be good at fitness. It wasn't a surprise she was first.

We watched the people trail in after then, and about fifteen or so people later, we heard laughter from the top of the slide. Everyone who had run in were on their own, obviously running it for the fitness part rather than the laughter part. However, the guffaw we heard from the slide was from a group and we turned the attention there. From here, I could see three people sitting at the top of the slide all in matching Hawaiian gear and knew exactly who there were; Ella and her friends. Her "friends", who I researched, were indeed the younger three Benedict's Soulfinder's. One was Ella's sister in law; the other one was Ella's sister in law to be and the smallest blonde one was just dating the youngest. As we watched, the smallest blonde one climbed over the top and sat down, and they all slid down the slide together and we even heard one of them swearing as they got covered with another bucket of mud at the bottom.

All four of them were covered in mud, but Ella was the worst. From her toes to shoulders, she was completely covered with only fragments showing of the skin or clothes below where it had flaked off. The hula skirt was lost along the way, and her face had flakes of mud and she beamed such a grin I could practically feel the endorphins being released. They all ran across the finish line together, laughing every step of the way and I grinned just watching them.

'You have such a crush on Ella,' Jake simply said, watching me rather than the mud popsicles on display. I just shook my head and remained quiet. 'Don't worry; I think we all have at one point or another. There's something about her that you either hate her, love her or you're her best friend. Thankfully for me, it's the latter. For you... you just have to wait.' Jake joked.

With great sadness, I watched as the girls posed for a few photos with various photographers, before they got hosed down, and Michael handed them their towels before they made their way back to their care, leaving me to decide what Jake had told me.

Be her best friend.

Love her.

Hate her.

The choice to me was crystal clear.


	14. Chapter 14 - Ella

**Chapter 14 – Ella**

 _Note to readers: This chapter contains alcohol. Seems an odd warning, but I would like to point out everyone who drinks alcohol in this chapter is of the legal age – Sky is eighteen, Phee is nineteen, Crystal is nearly twenty and Ella is approaching her 21_ _st_ _birthday meaning they can all drink legally within the UK. Whilst some may drink more than others, they are drinking responsibly. If you are not of the legal age, please don't drink, and if you are of the legal age of the country/state you live in please drink responsibly. Be safe!_

'Do you know all of these people?' Sky whispered, sitting on the table next to me in the middle of a dress shop in Camberley. It was the day before the party and the dress and wing/mask fitting for all the girls. The theme of the engagement party of two of the older members of Maui was "Angels and masks" which was pretty gender-neutral, which was why they chose it. A few months ago, they sent out the invitation to my home in Colorado – and even invited all of the boys as well as Crystal, Sky and Phee. Whilst we managed to book our holiday to include the event, but none of the boys could get the time off work or break the other commitments they have. So when we all replied, the girls decided to go with "angels" rather than "masks", which meant we had to go to the dress fitting. Honestly, I would prefer not to wear dresses. I'm not really a girly girl – and I bloody hate dresses. So now I was being forced into a dress of a colour that I might not even like and a pair of burlesque-style wings in said colour. Talk about events to build anxiety.

We were told to be in the dress shop for ten o'clock, but as we all work for a secret organisation where time keeping was a major feature of our work we all turned up early – much to the receptionist's horror. So we were all shuffled into one of the side rooms, so whoever was getting their dresses fitted for a wedding wouldn't be horrified when they came out. Currently, about 65 woman all sat around in the small room, and we took our place in the corner – Sky and myself sitting on the table, Crystal leaning against the wall and Phee keeping her back to everyone else so we could speak quietly.

'I know a few – most are just acquaintances.' I mumbled, retying my converse. 'Whose dumb idea was it to pick wings? We could have just gone masks and gone to New Look to get a dress... or Primark.'

'It'll be fun.' Crystal said, touching my skinny jeans and pulling it down slightly.

'Yeah – only after a few shots of vodka.' I mumbled, and they all laughed. If I was in a dress that made me very uncomfortable and there was an open bar... well. I did promise Karla and Saul before I left that I wouldn't drink anything in order to make sure the girls were okay. However, we did compromise saying that the only time I could drink anything alcoholic was tonight. Many would get annoyed that their parents were being restrictive but I could understand the paranoia coming from them.

'Hello girls, and welcome to Tussian Dress shop, and we're all here to fit the dresses and your wings for the party tonight.' The assistant came in, clapping slightly to get our attention before hesitating. The girls in this room ranged from small, tiny blonde girls such as Sky and me, to hench body building woman who could literally punch you and knock you out. I don't blame her for hesitating, but the biggest fear should be the combined gifts we could do. I mean – most of the females in this room had various gifts and if you piss us off. Well, I doubt the result would be good.

'Mine and Erik's aim for this party was to eliminate anyone being different from the crowd – which I'm sure we've all felt once or twice,' Everyone in the room laughed slightly even the assistant. The reason we all felt different was because of our gifts. We've had to keep ourselves hidden for years before Maui was established. So whilst the assistant laughed probably for hiding her expensive shoe buying habit from her husband. We all laughed because the length of time we had to keep ourselves to ourselves. The idea of the party was good – the 67 woman that were invited and agreed to the angel dresses and wings – were now all in this room together. Samalia, who's engagement party was tonight to celebrate the union of her and Erik, had already purchased 67 identical dresses at a massive discount in 68 different colours (her dress was gold, she got to choose hers) as well as 68 pairs of burlesque feather wings in the same colours – and we were just here to get the dresses adjusted and fitted. The entire dress shop was booked out for three hours in order to adjust all the dresses. This party was destine to be the talk of the office for weeks and even months to come.

'So we have all the different colours of the dresses in these little balls. We're going to pass this bowl around and we ask you all to pick one. You can't see the colours inside so it's all a surprise. We'll then send you all off to the various fitting rooms to try it all on. Once it's fitted, you can take the dress home with you and we'll see you all fitted and looking beautiful tonight!' Samalia said, as she passed the bowl around. Soon enough, the bowl was with us and we picked our four balls. The tiny balls was the ones you'd get in the £1 toy pick and mix in English supermarkets or in party bags at a 7 year olds party. I rolled the small white and black plastic ball in my hand, as everyone else in the room took theirs. I was hoping I got a nice colour; like blue or black. Something dark would be brilliant.

'Okay and now, let's open them all!' Samalia said, and I popped open the egg in my hand and took out the slither of paper. Whilst the one I picked wasn't folded, I could see the barcode of the dress in the corner, and as I flipped the sheet over I could see the colour dress I was to be wearing tonight – and I wasn't overly happy.

'Crimson red – what did you guys get?' Phee said, smiling. Yeah, she would totally pull that off against her olive skin.

'Jazzberry pink – I didn't realise we were going Crayola colours.' Crystal joked, and I nodded. She's be able to pull off pink with the correct heels. Crystal is one of those annoying people who can pull off any colour and would look flawless in all.

'Celestial Blue.' Sky said, smiling shyly. Was it just be that got the shittest colour of them all? The girls looked at me expectantly as I screwed up the piece of paper.

'White.' I simply said, pulling a face at the ground. This will either go two ways; I will look like a young child in their school play of the nativity playing Angel Gabriel, or I will look like a hooker. Neither one will be flattering.

'You'll look wonderful, Ella, we've been telling you for a while you'd pull of white.'

'Yeah – you were lying because Mom literally forced me into a white and yellow dress for Diamond's wedding. I told her I was too old for bridesmaid but NOOOOOO.' I joked, but I was secretly disappointed. A small, vain part of me wanted to look flawless for the party to almost prove a point to myself that I would function without Joe and get that deep in my head before we went down to Cornwall. But now, I was hopeless. I could only hope I looked so God damn awful that he would just turn his nose up at me and walk off and that would be it. I would be broken, as always, but I wouldn't affect his life in any way. That's what I wanted. I already cared about him enough that I didn't want to hurt him in any way at all and this would be the way forward.

'Okay girls, let's get you all into the fitting rooms and we can get the dresses sorted!'

Willing for the flashy lighting to fall on my head and knock me out, or to trip over the stairs and conveniently get caught in a loose baby zebra stampede I followed everyone to the changing rooms. Nothing happened on the way up, despite my wishing, and I was forced into the dressing rooms to get my dress altered.

At around half five, after a quick stop at the drive through KFC, we arrived at our hotel rooms for the night. Only a five minute walk from the hall of which has been rented for the party it seemed ideal for those who didn't wish to drive back that night. Michael had been invited and was going to go, but was called on for the night shift so we all had to book in to the hotel a few weeks previous to the event. We didn't mind though. However, I wasn't exactly the best person to share a hotel room with as I was up all hours of the night. For the girls sake, I had booked an extra room for me just around the corner on the floor above so I could pace around as much as I'd like in a semi-tipsy state (I say I would only get tipsy. Getting drunk and forgetting the night, as appealing as it sounds, would only lead to me doing some regrettable things that would lead to some interesting stories to follow) without feeling guilty about waking the girls up from their slumber. I had already dumped my overnight bag in their room, including some pyjamas to get changed into after the party, and the morning clothes as well as washing essentials and all the other things one would need; laptop, chargers, books. You know – things I would need to keep myself busy during an all nighters due to insomnia.

'What time does the party start?' Crystal asked, already lying on the bed, hair wrapped in a towel. As I had a shower at Michael's before we left, mine was already dry. Phee was in the shower, and Sky was towel drying her hair by the mirror.

'Seven – so we have just under an hour and a half to get ready.' I told the girls.

'That translates to an hour and a half to force you into the dress you have to wear.' Sky mumbled, and Crystal laughed.

'Yeah, good luck with that.' I said, walking to get the bottle of Jagermeister from the Spar bag, pouring four shots. I then places the shots in the larger glasses and opened a can of Red Bull, before pouring them around the shots. Phee came out the shower; a towel wrapped around her and came straight over. It had taken me a while to convince her that she would be safe drinking as long as she knew her limits and listened to when her body said enough was enough. I also think she just wanted to try something different. She was living under control of a very pretentious Savant in London who restricted her entirely until we managed to get her out a few days before her eighteenth. She has had a few alcoholic beverages since then – mainly champagne and wine – but never had gone out and got drunk.

'Three, two, one.' I simply said, and we all downed the Jager bomb. I quite happily swallowed with no fuss as the other three choked on their drinks. 'Wow, you three are wusses.'

'We aren't going to get too drunk, Ella, just a few to drink now and a few to drink there. You're the one that's allowed to get drunk tonight – we'll just spread out the drinks in Cornwall.' Crystal said and I nodded. That was the plan – for me to get hammered tonight and regret it, then let them have their share of drinks in Cornwall in the form of wine and low alcohol mixers, whilst I wouldn't touch it so I could drive. It seemed logical.

'Hmm, so you're the ones to keep me from doing anything bad tonight?' I questioned, pouring another shot. So much for taking it slow. Everyone frowned at me. 'Oh come on, I'm gunna need another to get myself into that white dress. I look about four.' I hissed, downing it again and flinching at the after taste.

'You looked really beautiful, Ella.' Phee said and I gave her a sideways look.

'You did – I'm glad they added the black to it.' Sky said, hugging me slightly.

Effectively what happened in the fitting was they decided I was too pale for a plain white dress – clap to the genius who realised that – so they added some black detailing around the hem which came to mid thigh after being taken up. The same black was around the arm holes, and they had even put some black fake feathers on my wings to match. I didn't mind it now, but still protested as I did look about six.

'Fine. Let's get ready then.'

Two hours later, we were all done. Fully dressed, with our mid-thigh dresses and long burlesque-styled wings of a matching hue, with hair done and make up done perfectly by someone else, we all felt brilliant. I say we, the girls felt wonderful and I felt slightly lacking, still regretting picking out the ball that screamed at me in the bowl. I did look at myself in the mirror – small black heels added another inch or two to my height and made my legs look skinnier, and the tights had a slightly darker tone to it so my legs looked slightly tanned but not orange. The dress came to mid-thigh and started with a black hem which then faded into the white dress, which was flowing until the band under the bust. The slight curve in the neckline revealed my shoulder bones and the small scar I got from having my Hickman line removed after an operation when I got shot in the warehouse trying to save Sky when she was kidnapped two and a half years back. From here, I could see the long soft white wings expanding back the colour changing from white, to light grey, to charcoal at the bottom. The front part of my hair was tied back, and the rest of it had a slight ringlet curl to it. Crystal had done my make-up, and had gone for a subtle effect with light pink lipstick, and blusher to highlight my cheekbones. In a way, the makeup had made me feel slightly more confident and less myself. I felt deindividuated from my own body, like I was someone else. Like I was living vicariously through the stranger in the black-and-white dress.

'Come on, then.' Sky said, looking wonderful in her short blue dress and cute wings. If she wasn't dating my brother I would assure you she would get some admiring looks tonight.

We all walked down towards the large hall place that had been rented out, and already we could see the flashing lights from the garden that had been hired. Music was already playing, and laugher evident. As I walked into the party, pushing my shoulder back up, I accepted the complimentary glass of champagne and let my mind wander. Looking at the guest list earlier, I could see that Joe had decided to come tonight. Whilst the major part of me wanted him to look at me and never speak to me again, the more rebellious part of me was going against my will and wanted him to look over at me and spend the time at the party talking to me and I could at least gorge myself on a few hours with my Soulfinder, then blame the effects on alcohol after. My mind was a complete mess, and I couldn't decide what I wanted to do. Only time would tell what events would happen tonight after my Soulfinder turns up.


	15. Chapter 15 - Joe

**Chapter 15 – Joe**

 _Note to reader: This chapter will also contain alcohol. Everyone at this party who consumed alcohol is above the age of eighteen and is obeying the law in England that no one under the age of 18 can consume alcohol within a public place. This chapter and this book do not condemn the act of underage drinking. Please, if you're under the age of the law regarding drinking alcoholic beverages please don't underage drink and if you're above the age of the law regarding drinking alcoholic beverages please drink responsibly._

Jake, Quinn and I all walked into the engagement party fashionably late as the traffic on the M25 was horrific. We had only arrived at the hotel rooms we were staying at tonight as the party started, and we still needed to get washed and dressed. It was nearly half eight when we managed to leave the hotel and even then some teenage girls came over to "ask for directions" and decided to try and start a conversation with us. I wasn't interested, though, there was only one girl I would want to see at this party, whose name was confirmed on the list I saw earlier when looking through Jake's phone, and it wasn't any of the girls who stopped.

Because we were late, we couldn't follow anyone in. Sure enough, we walked through the door, making sure the masks we were wearing were correctly in place and took the glass of straw-coloured bubbly the waiter was offering us at the door. We were all dressed in tight-fitting suits. Mine was just black – the blazer was black, with a snazzy black waist coat and I'm just going to let you assume the colour of my skinny trousers and shoes. The only splash of colour I had was a golden tie and some golden embellishment on my black masks. The waiter showed us into the cloakroom but as none of us had thought to bring a coat – March nights in England aren't known for their warmness – we kind of followed the room around. The place we ended up confused us all deeply.

We were in a large room with laminated floor. To one side, two inflatable's sat. One an inflatable bouncy castle and the other an obstacle course. At the back of the room, a large finger buffet was laid out, and covering the rest of the floor was dining tables with placements set. About six kids played on the inflatables, and another four adults sat at the chairs with their gold paper plates filled with cold food, drinking cups of coffee or tea. Another kid sat in the middle of the floor, with a paper cup filled with Ribena.

'Banging party,' Quinn mumbled, and I laughed. But where was everyone. We all scanned the room. We could see strobe lighting coming through some of the frosted windows from behind the bouncy inflatables, and a door was propped open to the left of the hall. We settled where we were all going immediately, and went through the door. Sure enough, the door leads to a large bar where a few girls stood ordering drinks. They all looked amazing in their neon coloured dressed although the makeup was a tad over one and they all looked like they were out on a hen do compared to an engagement party . I stood awkwardly at the bar, as the bartender came over with three bottles of beers.

'The main party is outside tonight, sir.' He told us and us all nodded like we already knew. Of course it would be outside – the younger adults who worked at base would be dancing and chatting, whilst those tied down with kids would be in here with the bouncy castle and finger buffets. Jake had got the night of babysitting, even though it was his first night away since the twins were born and he was probably dying to go back and see them. Quinn was only here for a few hours, leaving at half eleven as he was doing the morning shift at Maui. I, however, had got tomorrow off and booked my own hotel room in a nearby chain hotel so I could sleep my hangover off in peace without my parents nagging me to be productive.

About fifteen minutes later, and several beers drunk and even a few shots done, we braced ourselves to go outside into the bitter cold. I was the first one through the fire door, which was propped open with two chairs where gold and silver helium balloons were tied too and I immediately stopped to admire the amazing work done to this hall and its ground for tonight's party.

The fire door leads out onto a raised concrete balcony, which was covered with a white canopy. However, loads of helium balloons without strings were resting upon it, and it covered the metal tables and white bar chairs next to them. A few flameless candles were on the floor, leading towards the staircase going down to the main party area. About 12 gazebos were set up, two wide and six down to make space for the partiers. A wooden decking was laid out so the girl's heels wouldn't get bogged down in the mud below. Covalent heaters were placed at the edges of the tent, keeping everyone warm despite the biting temperatures outside. Along the edge of the large gazebo's that almost doubled as tents were more tables, which were covered in empty cup and bottles, as well as lighting fixtures which filled the area with coloured lighting and occasionally bubbles and below the balcony, a DJ sat controlling the songs which everyone sung along to and dances – the sound was pierced with peoples conversations and laughter.

Not only that, everyone looked jaw-dropping. All the guys and some of the girls were in the same black suits that we were, having been the ones provided for us, and some added their own splashes of colours with ties and the matching embellishments on the masks. We didn't really have a colour theme to go to, so it was whatever we fancied. I just happened to have a gold tie in my wardrobe from our Sixth Form prom. All the angels in the party looked amazing all dressed up like models with heels and flats, and with dresses stopping at knee length or mid thigh. I scanned the room, but surprise surprise, my eyes fell on the person who could easily be the most beautiful girl along them all.

Ella was dressed in a small white dress with black detailing, along with white and black wings. She held a glass in her hand which was practically empty and she was laughing at something one of her brother's Soulfinder's said. I felt my heart pause for a second when I saw her, then the beating started up again twice as quick. She was so out of my league I found her strangely safe to hit on. Not only that, I had started to feel a bit light headed and knew the alcohol that I just downed had gone straight to my head and given me the slight boost of confidence I would need to stroll up to her and ask her if she wants another drink.

Is this a smart move? The rational part of my brain started talking. Logically speaking, she was my boss' younger sister, and my brother's best friend. Would hitting on her in a semi drunken state really go down well? Probably not. I would probably do something I would regret. But was it worth the risk. I mean, it was fairly easy to say I had a massive crush on her and I knew soon she would go back to America and disappear off the radar for a few months at least, and would I regret not acting on my feelings later? Most likely. I'm just going to have to go for it.

I turned back around to tell my brothers to go on without me, I just needed to say a few words to Ella about the investigation earlier but they had already moved on and started speaking to people. With a deep breath, I snagged another two bottles from a tray a waiter was carrying, and jogged down the stairs. For a second, I lost sight on Ella but saw her again. A pure white dress was fairly easy to spot within a dark crowd. She shone like an angel had been dropped among the dazzling others – innocence among the other sins. No – she shone like a beacon and it was driving me towards her. I could feel my nerves almost double as I approached her, and then everything happened a bit too soon.

Ella said something to the ground of girls she was with, edging out the conversation. She gestured towards the building and back to the bar, turning to walk towards the building but her heel got caught in the slight groove on the wooden floor and she fell. She would have fallen straight to the floor if I wasn't there. Instead, she fell into my chest.

'Careful, angel.' I said smiling down at her as she stood up again. She smiled slightly, chuckling under her breath.

'When did you get there!' She said, and I could hear in her voice she was tipsy. Maybe past the point of tipsy, and I smiled at her again.

'Saw you were running low – I brought refills.' I said, hanging over a bottle.

'Ta,' She said, taking a swig. I shook my head at her, almost laughing at how confident she is when she's drunk. It was almost like she held herself back completely around me confining herself to a shell where it was almost unacceptable to talk properly to me. However, the amount of drink she's had demolished that shell.

'Are you drunk? I asked her, laughing as she smiled before taking another sip, before finally shaking her head. I gently pulled her to one side as someone tried to walk past, but she just looked up at me slightly confused. Yup – she was drunk. I took a large gulp of the beer, smiling at her as well. Ella looked even more beautiful than normal, her hair in light curls that started to look like they were dropping out, the white dress showing the figure she has, and I could see the slight scar she had on her neck. Before I had even noticed, I was pushing some loose curls behind her neck, only gently brushing against her scar on her neck.

'You look beautiful,' I whispered and she shook her head. 'You are,'

'Not a fan of white,' She said, before downing the rest of the bottle of beer. I mimicked her behaviour before grabbing another from the large bucket of ice. Ella trailed me over, and I handed her another drink.

'You should be, you're stunning in white. Like a fallen angel, who just happened to fall into me.' I told her.

'Maybe I planned too.' She winked over the top and whilst we were both tipsy, we continued to talk for the majority of the night.

As the time crawled until half one in the morning, the party crowd had completely thinned out with only those who were relatively intoxicated or didn't organise lift homes remained. To my surprise, Ella and I stayed next to each other for the entire night and didn't stop talking. That wasn't to say we didn't stop drinking and we were both, well, drunk, but it led to a good night. Her friends had gone home an hour or so ago, as they were all still quite jet lagged but they were all very happy and grinny at me before they left. I asked why she didn't leave with them and she gave a one armed shrug saying she wouldn't sleep anyway and she may as well stay here.

So the two of us took a break and walked around the wood scenery within the hired land as a break from the party. I had my hand around Ella's waist, kind of guiding her along the stone paths we were exploring as she kept tripping over or wandering away and blaming it in the heels she was wearing despite them only being maybe an inch high, but it was adorable. I realised that I had started to fall in love with her and it scared me. I knew it was stupid as we were both intoxicated, and it would never work as she was going back to Colorado in a few days time after going down to Cornwall on holiday and chances are I would never see her again. I was stupid for allowing my feelings to go this far in a few hours and blamed the alcohol for it. We walked the rest of the place with only small talk, before I told Ella I wouldn't let her walk back alone.

'Have you ever heard of Plato's "The Sym.." what's it called again? Sympossum. No. Oh I remember – "The Symposium?"' Ella asked, as we walked down the dead streets of the outskirts of Guildford. We could only find Erik to thank him for the invite and congratulating them on finding each other before we left. Turns out, we were both staying the night in the same hotel block so I offered to walk her home. She had started to turn cold near the end of the night, and now she was snuggled in my blazer jacket, the bottom hem falling to the same length as her dress.

'No?'

'Well, it's Greek mythology. It thinks that humans were originally made with four arms and legs and two faces but Zeus split them apart from each other fearing their combined power together. They were condemned to live their lives in search of their other half. Sound familiar?' Ella asked as we used our key cards to enter the rear entrance of the hotel that was still unlocked this time of night.

'Very familiar. You found your Soulfinder yet?' I asked Ella, and she just smiled a cheeky grin.

'Maybe,' She said, leading me into the lift and pressing the button '4' to take us to the floor her room was on.

'Very mysterious – don't they know then?' I questioned, and Ella shrugged. 'Why don't you tell him?'

'I don't know if it'll work, I don't want to ruin him.' Ella said and I hugged her. I could feel her hesitate slightly before she put her arm around my waist, hugging me back. She relaxed slightly in my arms as the lift shuddered into action, lifting us both to the 4th floor

'How could you – you – ruin some.' I asked, resting my head on the top of her head.

'I'm not exactly as simply as I seem, it's complicated. I don't want to take a risk,' She said.

'Do I know the guy?' and Ella just shrugged and my heart dropped. She didn't know if I knew him and it just eliminated me entirely from the question. She's a brilliant liar but when she's drunk her lying skills are non-existent and she tells the truth completely, even if it's slightly offensive. She told her earlier that maybe the gold tie should make its way into the bin or be saved for a wedding. I wished that it could have been me, her other half, but I knew now that I had no hope. When Ella sobered up again, chances are she's go back into her shell and chances are I wouldn't see this side of Ella again.

'But what if the risk is worth it and you don't ruin them. Even if you're,' I paused to poke her nose as we got out the lift 'not as simple as it seems or whatever you mean by that, if I was your Soulfinder I would just want you to take the risk. You are completely worth everything.' I simply told her as she stopped outside her room. I quickly bent down to take the cardkey for her room from my blazer pocket, putting it in the door as it "pinged!" open.

I stood in front of her as she just continued to stare at me, debating what I had said or just in day dream. I wasn't too sure what to do now, do I just leave and head up another floor and call it a night myself or stay here with Ella for a while.

'Joe?' She just whispered.

'Yeah?'

'Sorry,' I frowned at her as she looked up at me, her eyes glistening. God – I swear she gets prettier every time I look at her.

'Why you apologising – you haven't done anything wrong?'

'No, for this.' She simply said and before stepping forward, wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me. I was surprised for a second, but smiled as I kissed her back, my arms tight around her waist. It felt incredible, as if all the barriers between us that we both had forced up over the last three or four days had completely melted away within a few seconds. I found that I had really enjoyed every second I had spent with her, and never wanted her to leave again. Ella broke away from the kiss for a second – just long enough to pull me into her hotel room and close the door.


	16. Chapter 16 - Ella

**Chapter 16 – Ella**

It was about half eight in the morning, and the second I regained slight consciousness from my dreams I made a vow to myself never to drink again. I winced at my headache even though I hadn't opened my eyes yet and knew that I was the definition of hung over. Bloody hell, how much did I have to drink last night? I attempted to remember what had happened last night, but it was very patchy. I remember spending the beginning of the night with Crystal, Sky and Phoenix. It was all very good – they kept their drink simple. Coke and vodka, or just diet Pepsi whilst I kept up an interesting range of any alcoholic beverage. We were in the middle of talking about what colours suit who and everything when Crystal simply nodded over my head. Jake, Joe and Quinn had all walked into the party, each of them looking amazingly good looking but in the brief second I looked around to see them. Joe came over to me, and I left the girls and said hello to some others before turning around and falling literally into him. I cringed at the memory. We talked to each other, mainly joking around whilst drinking and after that I couldn't remember anything. I couldn't even remember how I got back to the hotel.

Speaking of hotels, this mattress I was laying on was incurably lumpy and hard and had the biggest ridge in it. Note to self; file complaint to hotel. I sighed slightly, opening my eyes in order to find my bottle of water I left strategically left next to my bed, hoping to find the pack of painkillers but only too find out why what I was laying on wasn't soft.

Joe was lying in the middle of the bed with no top on, fast asleep. Oh. Shit. He had an arm around my back and resting on my hip, his other hand resting on top of my hand where it was on his expose chest. His head was turned like it was resting on top of mine as we slept but as I moved away he made no attempt to wake up. Oh God what did I do last night? I could roughly guess. And guess from the slight hickie on his neck that I probably gave him that. Trying to move slowly so I didn't wake him up and have to deal with awkward conversation, I noticed I was in just a long grey shirt that didn't belong to me, which was slightly rolled upon my leg, but that was it for the amount of clothes I had on.

I pulled a face, very slowly moving out of Joe's arms before standing up, swaying slightly. Clearly, whatever happened after I got into my room this morning I didn't do the normal thing I do of drinking lots of water and taking painkillers before I stayed up all night and felt myself sober up – but I immediately hesitated. No, I fell asleep last night. I must have fallen asleep for a considerable amount of time because I couldn't remember many hours of the night. Normally, my nap is at the hour of three and four, even under the influence of alcohol. But I woke up at half eight in the morning and felt great for it. I guessed that somehow I managed to break the insomniac pattern for one night because I drunk so much? There wasn't any hidden meaning – was there? My insomnia didn't clear up for one night just because I got very touchy feely with my Soulfinder. No. It was just a coincidence.

I crouched down on the floor slightly, downing my bottle of water, only stopping to take two ibuprofen from the packet. I looked at myself in the mirror, quickly letting down my hair, shaking it out slightly to break the remaining curls that were just caught flat from the hairspray before tying it up in a low ponytail. I quickly grabbed the packet of wet wipes from my floor, wiping off the rest of my make up watching the elegant left over's of blusher and mascara was away. The angelic me as no more, and now I was back to shitty old me. I grabbed my pair of skinny jeans, pulling them onto myself and doing up the button before grabbing my key card from the side of the bed and walking towards the door.

I paused, as the door opened, I looked back at Joe who was still fast asleep. I'm pretty sure if I just upped and left, he would have no idea that I was ever here. He would probably just get up and leave and know nothing. But if I stayed, was there a chance this whole Soulfinder thing could work? I knew he was no threat, and if anything that made it all a load worse. Joe was easily one of the kindest, down to earth people I have ever met and I felt, well, I felt at home when I was near him and this felt like a lobotomy. I had to decide what to do. Joe was lovely, and I knew that he would do anything to try and make the chemistry between us two works but I didn't want to put him through that. I closed my eyes slightly, and as there was loads of Savant's who were in the hotel I managed to find someone who's gift was to tell the past, and borrowed it for a second, quickly scanning Joe's past. I saw him, in Year 8 when he was 13 crying in the mirror in the boys toilets in what I could only guess was the school he went too. He was very overweight and quite small – maybe only an inch or two taller than I am now and was way below the UK average for a boy his age. It was then he decided he never wanted to meet his Soulfinder looking like he did then and he worked so hard to lose all the weight and get fit, and using his gifts in Maui for good use. He did all of that so he wouldn't let his Soulfinder down. He did all of that for me before we had even met. He did all of that, and the only way I could repay him would be to let him into a relationship with a depressed, anxious girl who can't sleep and is probably deemed psychotic. I couldn't do that to him, it would just be unfair. I cared way too much about him to do that. And what was the truth. I cared about him, I cared about him so much and I was falling in love with him (albeit slowly...) which is the reason I didn't want too tell him about what was resting on us. I cared so much that I didn't want to hurt him.

I realised I was crying, and wiped a tear away. As much as it hurt me to know my Soulfinder was probably one of the best people out there, I couldn't let him know. For his own sake. He would be so disappointed to find out the girl he dreamt about for years were just shitty old me. If I never told him, he would go back to thinking it was someone wonderful and worth all that time he spent going for runs or in the gym and not just the empty mess I was. As much as it felt like I was cutting off all hope of living a normal life, it was for Joe's sake. I knew I cared about him, and this was the only way I could show him even if he'll never find out.

I slowly closed the door behind me, before sinking to the floor crying in a ball. It didn't feel like I was making the right choice, but I loved Joe enough to not want to hurt him – and he would get hurt if we got together.

About forty five minutes later, when I managed to get myself together and stop sobbing outside my room where Joe still hadn't woken up, I made my way to the floor below where Crystal, Phee and Sky all shared the room. I wiped my eyes one more time, taking in a jittery breath before I telekinetically unlocked the hotel door from the inside.

'Wakey wakey,' I said, walking in and kicking the door behind me despite the fact I was shaking.

'We're already awake – we did text you.' Crystal said, and all three of them were lying on the double bed and gave me a once over.

'Like I was paying attention to my phone. I gave you enough time to wake up.' I said, sitting at the edge of the bed.

'Oh, Ella, what happened?' Sky said, coming up behind me and hugging me. 'Your colours are all sad. What's gone wrong?'

'Nothing has,' I simply said and Sky hugged me a bit tighter. She knew I was lying then. Interesting – I didn't know if I was telling the truth or a lie, but as she picked it up I must have been lying to myself trying to trick myself into thinking I was okay. There was some interesting loopholes I wanted to test in her gift – like if someone thinks they're telling the truth and it wasn't, would it show as a lie?

'Ella, what happened last night? We all thought you and Joe kicked it off – we thought you changed your mind.' Phee gently said, getting off the bed to get the tissue box for me as Crystal set next to me.

'Nothing happened,'

'Um, that's a lie.' Sky said, and I laughed as I wiped away a tear. 'Okay, tell us what you do remember.'

'I just remember spending the entire time at the party with him and it was brilliant, you know?' I said and the girls nodded. Yeah, they of course knew what it was like. They were with my brothers living their dream relationships without the seriously greying thoughts that I kept having. 'He gave me his blazer when my temperature started to drop and walked me back to my hotel room.'

'You're still hiding something, just spill it. I think you'd rather tell us then tell Michael – right?' Crystal jokes but the slight edge she normally had when saying things like this was completely removed. They just wanted to know what had happened to make me so upset overnight.

'I don't think we left it at the door though.' I said, my words overlapping Phee as she said,

'I've never seen you wear that shirt before – oh.'

All three girls looked at me slightly horrified, slightly amazed as I went bright red, lying back on the bed before crawling to the top of the bed, getting under the covers and hiding. Oh God. They were assuming stuff that I didn't know if we had.

'Ella!' All three said at once.

'I don't think anything happened!'

'Ella,' Crystal gently said, and I moved the duvet to look at her waiting on her bed to talk to me. 'When Michael said in the car "if you don't like him, fuck him" I honestly don't think he meant it like that.'

'Stop, we didn't do anything.' I said, crawling back under the duvet. There was a moment of silence, where the two older girls looked at Sky to see if I was lying.

'She believes what she's saying – that's good enough for me.' Sky said, and I could feel the three of them sit around me on the bed.

'However, I'm sensing he's half naked in your bed.' Crystal joked, poking me in the side and I smiled, relaxing slightly. I'm glad it was the girl that was here for me to break that news too. If it was Michael, or any of my brothers in Colorado, there would be a grilling and a search party on the way to the hotel room right now.

'Okay, so whatever happened at the party stays at the party, right?' Phee said, and we all agreed as I crawled out of my embarrassment cocoon I made myself in the duvet. 'Right, so we'll wait for Ella to sober up completely, drive back to Ascot where big brother lives, and then down to Cornwall tomorrow!'

'Sounds like a good plan,' Crystal said. 'We won't take the mick out of you too much, Ella. I mean, we all didn't find our Soulfinder's in the best way and you never took the piss. We'll do the same back, even if you don't get with Joe in the end.'


	17. Chapter 17 - Ella

**Chapter 17 – Ella**

 _Ten days later, Cornwall._

I stood in the kitchen aimlessly, throwing around a can of Coke from the fridge. I always kind of assumed it would be tricky for me to be in Cornwall when everyone else is sleeping but I didn't realise I would be this bored. Normally, I could just sit around in my bed at home and read but as I was sharing a bed with Crystal, I didn't want to risk waking her up especially as she's being extra nice to me at the moment because of what happened at the party.

Turns out Joe a complete and utter twat. He woke up when I was with the girls, and called Quinn to ask what had happened, and when Quinn had no idea he called Jake – who was working with Michael at the time. This meant by the time we got home Saturday night, Michael was waiting to grill me. Fair play to Michael, he just asked what had happened and when I started crying again sat down with me and hugged me before texting Joe telling him never to touch me again. He must have thought everything turned pretty sour at the end of the night when the chances are we just crashed in the same bed and refused to crash in suits and ugly white dresses with big burlesque wings. It made sense for us to be half naked – I mean there's no shame in it. I quite often walk around at home in just a long shirt. Who needs that to be over sexualised?

'Just tell me if Joe did anything to hurt you?' Michael said as I curled up in his arm, and he was just playing with my hair.

'No, he didn't hurt me.' I said, wiping away my tears. Michael huffed slightly, pulling me in a bit closer and the blanket up to my neck again. I guessed he felt my temperature drop again slightly again which normally meant I was lying whilst being sad. I had managed to get slight control of my temperature but now it was out of control again.

'Then why are you so cold?' He just mumbled and I shrugged. 'This is why you don't drink.'

'It wasn't the drink,' I whispered, and he gave me a sideways look, passing my Pepsi to me. Michael has obviously learnt how to get me out of one of my anxious, sad moments – blanket, hugs, reassurance and sugar.

'Are you normally this forgetful – I don't think so?' He joked, putting my drink back down as I handed it back. 'Beside, Joe has no idea either which is why he called Jake.'

'He's a moron.'

'Of course he's a moron – he touched you.' Michael joked, pulling the blankets up yet again as I kicked them off. 'I vote you do a pregnancy test.'

'Dude,' I laughed at him like he joked. Like I was that stupid. But he wasn't actually joking.

'What, then we'll know nothing happened!' Michael said, and I laughed at his paranoid streak. He's said some pretty bad things, granted, but this was brilliant. I just stuck my arm out and he frowned at me.

'Touch there.' I told him, pointing to my upper arm and more precisely, the bicep muscle. He touched it, wondering what the hell he was doing but then felt the little device under my skin. He frowned, pushing down on it a bit.

'What the hell's that?'

'FBI demands that if you work for them, you have to be on the implant just to make paperwork easier. I'm also on a form of pill just in case that thing breaks. Believe me – nothing is happening down there any time soon. Chill.'

'I don't know if you're trying to show the fact nothing or happen, or literally telling me something happened but not to worry.' Michael joked, and I laughed. It did seem positively bizarre.

But I was still annoyed that Joe had even told his brother that he woke up in my room and I wasn't there. I mean, to even know it was my room meant that he had looked through my stuff and everything, and then to call his brother. Michael and I are incredibly close but I wouldn't tell him that I woke up next to Joe with no recognition of what happened, mainly because he would make me go through every test known to man, before hunting down Joe. I had to then sit through a grill from my brother about bloody safety on nights out and discuss contraception with him. The shit you have to do if you're a girl. Thank the Lords that neither of us found any taboo or awkwardness discussing sex and contraception. Bet Joe didn't have that conversation with Quinn or Jake.

I could only guess Michael was so protective of me because we were the only family we had left from our old lives. Later that day we discussed what could have happened if the car didn't crash. Would we end up in the careers we did? Would we both in university? Would we even be as close to each other? It was hard to tell, but he was definitely making up for the older brother role that society deems him to play. Not only that, he also had a badly timed phone call from Will, who was on speakerphone and was around Uriel's at the time. So guess who now knows. So I could look forward to a brotherly conversation from Will when I got home as well. Just because Joe's a knob.

But the word that was used in the conversation was "confident". That was how they both summed me up... "confident". Joe thought I would be fine because I was "confident". I frowned over the word. Personally, I never thought of myself as a confident person. I suppose I had always been too self conscious and self aware that I was different to think I would be confident. From a young age, before the crash, it was drilled into me that I had to keep to the confinements of the world because of my gift. I mean, it's hard to explain to a toddler how they when they were shown a photo of a beach or something, and they just passed out how she would come back knowing what is happening on the beach. To them, it probably looked like I was a fainting goat and just got excited and passed out. But not only that, the gift was the first one ever on records (go me), so they had nothing to rely on. I just fainted and came back knowing information that I shouldn't have known. I think something clicked when Nan and Grandad were running late, and I fainted, and I came back saying they had broken down on the motorway and they apologise and then when they finally arrived they said the same thing. But after the car crash, any confidence I had evaporated.

I was in the child's ward in John Radcliffe hospital in for about seven months after the crash before being released. About three months in the high dependency unit, and the rest in the Melanies ward within the children's hospital. I was so numb after the crash. Numb and hollow. I was trusted enough to walk around the hospital ward when I wanted too as I couldn't stay still and they thought it was relaxing for me to pace the trauma ward. They thought it would build my confidence seeing that people can recover from all sorts of illnesses. However, at four years and ten months old I was only two foot and six inches tall – four or so inches under the average height for someone of that age. I used to sneak into the nurses bay and hide under the tables in the corner. I used to hear them talk about patients who had been moved to new wards or had unfortunately passed. I had eavesdrop on the conversations they had about me. I hid under that desk so long they sent out a search party and I hid scared people would get annoyed at me. I heard all of the nurse's talk about me. Some loved me and some thought I was too ruined to carry on. I just sat there for I think it was three days, only coming out when the coast was clear to go to the toilet or something. So my confidence was so low knowing the people who I thought were my "nurse friends" actually didn't like me at all.

The only thing that did touch me was hearing Saul talk to the nurses about me. He cried when he heard I was missing and had probably walked out of hospital and they had no idea where I was. He left in search for me and returned seven hours later after driving down every road within Oxford looking for me. I had to give it to myself, my kid self was an ultimate hide and seek winner. But Saul came back that night looking drained and I gave myself up. I came out of my hiding place and walked over to Saul, hugging my teddy in one arm.

'Ella, thank the God's you're safe,' He said, coming over to me and crouching down. 'Can you speak?' I shook my head. One thing the trauma of the car crash had brought to me was the ability not to speak at times when I was down.

'Where have you been, are you safe?' He whispered and I pointed to the nurses' station.

'Did you come back hun?'

'I never left,' I whispered and he smiled at me before realising what I actually said.

'You were there the whole time? Why?' I just shrugged, hugging him. He gently picked me up so I sat on his hip, my head on his shoulder. 'I'll say I found you outside the hospital, I'll try and get you let out and we can go home.' He whispered and I smiled.

'Yes please,' I whispered back.

Saul stuck to his word and said he found me wandering around outside, and I was discharged a few weeks early. When I was recovering I was told I was simply that I had to socialise a bit more. Karla put me in for ballet class, and I was told I wasn't good enough and was promptly booted out. So I decided to join karate class with some of the older Benedict boys and then athletics with Will, Xav and Yves. I got told I was confident when I was around them because I knew my moves and I was honestly quite good. When I started school, I enjoyed theatre and found that I could pretend to be confident and happy when being a wreck on the inside. It was all an act.

I assume that is what Joe meat when he said I was "confident". He had seen me when I was comfortable around the girls, or around Jake and Michael, and had assumed I was confident. But there were always two faces to a person. I had the confident one I liked to show and the anxious, sad part that I kept hidden within my core. I suppose that's why the girls were so confused; they thought I was turning down Joe for some mediocre reason and not because my inner doubts that my brain kept nagging. But this one time I couldn't pretend to be confident around him. I wish I could, and the alcohol helped for one night, but I couldn't. He thought I was confident, when I was actually a nervous wreck. Why did I have to be so confusing?

I frowned, looking out the glazed doors which looked upon the beach. I smiled. This beach was the same one our family used to go to before the crash. I remember making sand castles on the no dog beach when I was a kid, and Michael and I had even managed to find photos of that moment. I had managed to persuade the girls to go down to Bude, on the north coast of Cornwall, as it was a very friendly village and had good surf where I had promised the teach the girls how to surf. However, I think body boarding might be better for them all. It had just turned half eight in the morning, and we had a strict wake up at nine routine so we could spend the day doing activities, and then the evening in to enjoy ourselves. I was the alarm clock.

I quickly bent down and pulled out a box of Betty Crocker's tempting chocolate cake mix and the muffin tin, deciding breakfast can be cupcakes. Sticking my headphones in as to not wake the other girls, I played my music on shuffle, happily tucking my phone down my bra as Fall Out Boy started to play. I measured out the 125ml of vegetable oil, the 230ml of cold water and three medium three range eggs, sifting the cake mix and adding the wet ingredients before I noticed Crystal was standing in the door way in her PJ's.

'Lover boy,' she said – pointing her phone at me.

'Yes, honey boo?' I replied back, laughing as she hit my arm. 'What about him?'

'Come around on him yet?'

'Probably not – I mean I'm making cupcakes at nine in the morning on holiday.' I simply said, pulling out the whisk and started to mix the chocolate gloop it had formed in the bowl. It'll be fine, I'm sure, once I just whisk out the lumps. I frowned at myself – I normally didn't care about box mixtures of cakes knowing if I cock up, there's nothing to worry about. There are only so many times you can cock up on box recipes. I guess this time I only cared because I needed to take my mind off my asshole Soulfinder.

'Are you sure you're okay?'

'Why do you have your phone this early?' I asked, frowning when I noticed the device in her hand lit up as she got another message. She hadn't been in contact with anyone – family phone calls were at 7pm as we had all arranged.

'Xav called, just to check up.' Crystal said, looking at the floor then going to busy her getting a glass of milk. I knew that behaviour, and I dropped the bowl on the side, before leaning on the counter and crossing my arms.

'He didn't call to check up – it's like two in the morning there. What did he say.'

'Nothing,' and she held my eye.

'Don't bullshit, he told you something that you're worried about which is why you got out of bed before everyone else to find me and speak to me about it, didn't you.'

'You're foolproof, you know that?' Crystal said. ' Okay, Xav just called because he was making sure we were okay before he went to bed and he was picking up interference with you – he said it was similar to what he gets when you're not completely okay mentally. He just wanted to know if you were okay.' Crystal said, jumping up on the counter.

'Of course I'm fine – see I'm making cupcakes!'

'Are you actually fine, you know,' she tapped her head and I hesitated for a second.

'Crystal, seriously, I'm okay.' I just told her, nodding to myself. Sure, I was disappointed that it didn't work out with Joe and we never got into the relationship the girls that are here with me and it felt like I was trying to live without a limb at the moment. It had started to clot, the feelings had started to leave, but I felt hollow and lacking. I'm sure that will pass... right?

'She's telling the truth,' Sky said, coming around the order. I rolled my eyes at her.

'Well of course you're awake.'

'We're both awake, it's 9am.' Phee said, before hesitating for a second, 'so why is Xav picking up interference.'

'I dunno, there's probably a whole ocean between us at the moment. Remember he's used to me living a few feet away from him or I'm at least in the same town. Don't worry,' I simply said knowing it was true. He always made Michael check up on me because of the interference. Savant families are close when you have these gifts, and he's been on edge ever since I overdosed (for obvious reasons) so whenever he picks up any interference, he wants to make sure I was okay. Somehow, I even managed to give off this interference when I was doing nothing – I could just be reading and he comes running into the bedroom to make sure I am okay (and to yell at me for giving him a heart attack when I'm reading).

'Okay, yeah that makes sense.' Crystal said, replying to his Whatsapp message.

'So, what is the plan today?'

'Weather is alright, I guess, but not beach weather. So I vote we drive back up to Devon to Combe Martin, there's a dinosaur and wildlife park and also a boat journey to the smaller island – the one you can just see out the window.' I said, and the girls nodded excitedly.

'Can we do the boat first?' Sky asked, and I nodded.

'Sure, it's just the express boat from Combe Martin beach straight to Lundy. We can then go look at the uninhabit island. We can't go on them because it's protected but no one has lived on the land for over 450 years.' I said, pouring the cupcake mixture into a measuring jug, and then dividing it up into the cupcake cases.

'You taking us to the ghost islands?' Crystal joked, putting the pan I had finished filling in the oven.

'Hell yeah, creepy shit goes on. We need to go watch.' I simply joked as we all went our different ways to get ready.

 _\- Two and a half hours later –_

We all sat on Combe Martin beach, shoes off and shorts on as we admired the view. Our boat was due in three minutes (apparently) but we had already booked our tickets on the boat so we could relax for a while (a while being three minutes).

'How the hell are you in short shorts?' Phee asked, hugging her jacket around herself. Apparently March was not a good time for suntanning. However, I managed to force the girls into cropped jeans. Not the finest hour for fashion, but have you tried going on a beach with jeans on? However, I was quite happy in a thin shirt and shorts that stop just below my bum. I looked like a typical tourist – but if you are so adapt to the cold, you may as well make the most out of it.

'I am icey anyway, this is nothing to me. Come, let's go visit the ghost island.' I grabbed the beach bag, pushing it up onto my shoulder as we headed towards the boat. We say boat, it was more a large dingy with wooden benches that could hold twenty, fired up by two large engines on the back. It didn't look too safe – especially as we had to wear poncho's.

Sure enough, we boarded the boat, us four managing to fit on a bench meant for two and covered ourselves with the baggy white ponchos and tarp over our laps to cover the bags. We leant in to speak to each other.

'Sky, do you sense any danger from this place? It looks pretty ominous.' Phee simply said. I had to agree with her. Lundy was the main island based near Illfracombe, just over from Combe Martin. However, Combe Martin beach was based near a sea break, so it's easy for boats like this to slide on in. As the island, the largest in the Bristol channel, as well as being 12 miles off the coast of Devon, it was classed as a heritage island. Only 28 people lived on the island in 2007 however it's been opened up to holiday visitors. And honestly, the views from the island was absolutely beautiful and scenic. That's why I wanted to go – and the small marine sanctuary. Not only that, a small island rested about a mile off, where no one had lived was completely rural. There was only a small warehouse in the centre of the island and a outhouse to one side but no one was allowed on the island – it would be a criminal offense to set foot.

'I'm not Will, you moron.' Sky said back and I nearly choked on my spit.

'Bloody hell, you've changed since you were sixteen.' I replied, and Sky laughed. 'But no, I asked Dad before we left, this island was completely safe. Only a slight danger to me because I'm clumsy, apparently.'

'Why did you want to go look at an island?' It wasn't a dig, but it sounded like one. I knew they were just wondering why I wanted to go around an island that had nothing on it – and I just honestly wanted to go to the dinosaur park a few minutes up the road from the beach but this made me seem slightly more sophisticated. And, they have a good marine centre.

'Fishes!' I said, and they all laughed at me as we docked up.

We sat on the small picnic blanket we had hauled to the island with us on one of the fields overlooking the sea. The view from here was stunning. Below us was a pebble beach, where the waves lapped pathetically only breaking 30 odd centimetres from the water's edge. Larger rocks was swamped by the sea, and caused little breaks and peaks in the otherwise flat ocean. We were completely surrounded by steep cliffs with the grey rocks breaking through the otherwise grassy sides and even the clouds has disappeared for us to enjoy the picnic. We could see the outline of the uninhibited island just.

'Okay, this is quite good Ella. Well done,' Phee said, picking up the tub of icing and decorating her own cupcake before taking a bite. The other girls murmured their agreement.

'I'm just going to look at the other island,' I said, pointing to the horizon. The other girls nodded.

'We'll be here when you're back,' Sky said sweetly, as I lay down on the grass. When using my gift, I didn't need to lie down, especially as the distance was only a mile. I do further when walking around fully conscious but I didn't want to take any risks, especially when I was responsible for the other girls safety when driving. With the jacket over me, I closed my eyes and tried to dismember my brain from my body and sure enough, I started to feel the sensation of holding a handful of dry sand, before holding your hand open in the wind. Particles flew away, and I was suddenly myself on the corner of this island.

Grass grew completely wild around the edges, with blades as high as my mid thighs. Wild flowers covered the area I was in ranging from dark purple to blue to dark reds again. A low beach was near me, with some stones planted roughly as a form of staircase. Odd – I thought no one had been on this island for years. I followed the stairs up and noticed there had been trampled down grass to one side, leading towards the warehouse. Frowning, and my suspicions high, I followed the trampled grass. Sure enough, about 200 meters in, the trampled grass stopped and beheld a field of freshly mowed grass and a rough circle – almost like one used for a helipad – a few hundred feet from the outhouse. Now, I can guarantee you, helicopters and helipads were not around 450 years ago when it was reported the last person moved off this island. So these markings were new, and used.

I heard shouting on the island, and turned to find it. Immediately I lied down on the ground, a security procedure that I have to do. Some people can sense my presence if they have the right Savant gifts, like Mediums are said to sensor ghosts, so laying down would just make it seem like they sense a good place for coal, so to speak. But I looked up and saw two men with massive bags walking from one side of the island to the outhouse. The massive bags were just the giant Sports Direct bags for life, the ones that drag along the floor if you're not tall, and the two the men were carrying were full to the brim holding all kind of crap in it. The first man I could see was fat with a massive beer belly. He waddled along, the bag in one hand and a coil of wire in the other hand. He had an evil profile about him, though, with brown comb over hair and a fuzzy beard. Huh. I looked over to the man behind him who was taller, and skinnier, but had no muscles to him at all. The bean post he was struggled with the bag, and kept swapping it between his two hands. Both of them disappeared into the warehouse laughing. I then heard the clank as they dropped the bags for life's on the floor.

An uninhibited island, which has no one living on it for 450 years, now had two men with bags for life messing around in the warehouse. Something told me that they weren't just backpackers, looking at the island, or even moving in.

Eight years of working for two secret service agencies told me they were dangerous.

And now, I was in danger because I saw them.


	18. Chapter 18 - Ella

**Chapter 18 – Ella**

 _July, 2015._

 _As you can see, the weather impact on South Carolina has been extraordinary especially on the –_ the man on the television droned on, and I squinted at it. I knew the story would be breaking headlines any time soon and definitely within the next hour. I carried on watching the news for another ten minutes, sitting in one of the investigation rooms within the FBI building in central Denver, Uriel sitting opposite the work bench on his laptop, with the odd noise where his search was declined.

 _Sorry, we would like to interrupt the report for some breaking news. Weird and illiterate markings have been tarnishing the side of public buildings in the down town New York area. Investigators have started their investigation into how the marks have got here and what they mean. We're directing you to our roaming reporter in the area, Marcus. Marcus, any idea what is happening?_ The screen cut from the busty brunette in the Fox new's office to a windswept middle age man holding a microphone. Can someone tell me how Fox got hold of this story before anyone else? The most sexist and racist news broadcaster probably ever got hold of this story that we've been working on for at least a week constantly. Uriel had also looked up from the other side of the work desk. Normally when a news broadcasting site grabs the story we watch to pick up some hints or something, like it was a different perspective. However, then Fox gets the story we more watch to rule out ideas. You'd get more ideas to talking to a bunch of kids in Kindergarten.

 _Yes, thank you ma'am. I'm standing in front of one of the messages that have been carved into the concrete over night. The police have checked CCTV cameras around the area but the person who carved it has not been caught. The same phrase has been carved into seven other plinth in this building and others throughout the down town area. Investigators have been working on the case trying to figure out what language the writing is in, but police suspect Gaelic –_

'It's not Gaelic.' I simply said, turning off the TV before facing back towards the bench, reviewing the mess I had made. Uriel sat opposite me on the work bench, in similar mess to what I was in. After a middle school teacher found the carvings on the notice boards, she called the Principle, who then had several more reports. They called the police, who also had several more reports throughout the town. It was then reported to the FBI, and guesses who was assigned the case?

Victor had called me two in the morning and asked me to drive into Denver to help with the case. Of course I protested slightly but I had nothing better to do, so half four in the morning in late June I arrived in Denver and was briefed on the marks and had to try and find the origin of the marks or even what language they were in.

Currently, it was Vick, Will, Uriel and I all on this case, and Yves was coming to Denver in a few hours to try and help us.

'It's not anything, really.' Uriel said sipping his coffee shaking his head. 'We've exhausted all options. Every dialect spoken for the last three hundred years and this match nothing. This,' he held up the picture of the engravings, 'is not a dialect.'

'It's a threat,' I mumbled.

'Speak up and go on,' He joked, smiling at me.

'If it was a language it would be warning us of something. If it's not a language, it's a threat. It's trying to focus us on this for a hidden threat for a reason. So it's not a warning – it's a threat.'

'Threat for what,'

'If we know that, we wouldn't be here.' Will said, coming into the room with yet more coffee. 'Clever, though. So we've exhausted all dialects.'

'All of those spoke in the last three centuries.' Uriel said, and Will nodded.

'Nothing anywhere else, just these six buildings in New York?' Will said, skimming through our notes.

'Just New York,'

'I think London will find soon, and get that guy you had a one night stand with to look at it, because you probably wasn't careful,' Will joked, and I picked up the fidget ball they leave my side of the bench and threw it at him full force as he ducked away laughing.

'Not funny,' I said as Will came around and hugged me around the neck.

'Sorry, kid, but it was hilarious.'

'Blahblahblah, I don't care.' I said, surprised at how quick my body had gotten over the separation from Joe. It was just my mind that wouldn't get its ass in gear. He hugged me a bit tighter, and I just moved my arm and stabbed him behind his knee, causing him to jump back and realise his grip on me.

'Good move,' Will simply said, pulling up his chair beside me, before flicking through my notes. 'Seriously, even you have nothing?'

'Nothing, zero. If it's a threat it's a bloody crap one because it's not threatening anyone.'

'You're just not looking hard enough,' Victor said, walking into the room in his grey suit. He immediately stopped next to Uriel, picking up his A4 paper notepad and flicking through what he had got written down, but discarded my notes without even reading them.

'Seriously? Says the one who's not even looking? Also, do you ever get changed out of that suit,' I asked, taking a sip of my slushee Will had brought for me. Normally, I'm banned from these slushees because of the amount of sugar they have in them make me go insanely hyper and giggly and bouncy, but I've been in this room for edging on 52 hours now, so they kept me on top of self care, including pushing me to have showers and get changed and have meals at socially regulated times. Will, who had taken a sip from a bottle of coke almost spat out the mouthful of fizzy.

'You don't understand, you have to look relatively smart for this job.' He said, sitting down next to Uriel and pulling out his laptop from his briefcase.

'You saying my polar bear leggings aren't smart?' I joked, and he rolled his eyes but smiled. That was the most you'd get out of Vick when he's on a case. He gets bogged down with work if he can't see the case ending.

A few minutes later, when we had all gone back into work, my phone started to vibrate on the desk. All three of my brothers looked up as I grabbed it off the table, looking at the caller I.D. and saw Michael's name. I smiled as I swiped to accept the call, sticking it on speaker phone.

'Sup,' I simply said,

'I'm just going to assume you're all over the markings in New York case, right?' He said, and a nodded.

'Like a moth to a flame – how did you know?'

'Completely your kind of thing. Any ideas yet?' Michael asked and I frowned. It wasn't like him to randomly call me to find out what case I'm on.

'Nothing. All dialects that have been spoken in the last 300 odd years are ruled out. The highest cross link we had was 17.5% corrective writing, which is the similar level one would get trying to write in a tiny box with your foot. It's not high enough and it was only a few letters. We're narrowing it down further, but with it only in one location we have no idea what it could be.'

'We need you to come back to England, El.' Jake said on the other side of the phone. I didn't realise there was two of them on the phone to me.

'How's the twins?' I asked as I heard Michael mutter something to someone in the distance.

'Yeah, they're both pretty good. Same weight – finally, but yeah. You still need to babysit them at some point, show them your ice thing.'

'Hell yeah, more than happy too.' I said, and I heard the phone move slightly.

'News is just in; they found more of the markings on the walls at Heathrow's departure hall, the same pattern and the same amount across the pillars. Everyone who booked a flight seat was on the flights – it couldn't be one of them.' Michael said

'So a ghost did it?' I joked, and he laughed.

'Would be the easiest answer, but we're trying to get you on the case over here if we can. We need to wait for everything to die down so it's the normal 4 day seclusion period, then we're trying to get you to fly over here and help. Vick has just signed the paperwork saying 4 people on this case, so the second Yves appears you don't have to work technically. You're staying with me for however long you're over here for and you are not allowed out with Joe – got it?' Michael said, and I heard Jake laugh in the background and someone else sigh. I ended up sighing as well.

'Not a ghost, 4 day wait, Yves' jazzy arrival means me no work, staying with you for chicken nuggets and Disney and no going out getting drunk. Got it.' I said. The boys in the room looked acutely aware of the conversation happening, being able to hear both sides. Victor made the "pass me the phone for a second" sign.

'If I'm correct, Vick will currently be trying to grab the phone off you to talk to me to try and get you to stay. I will argue for you, he will argue for your help too but I'll win. Pass me over,' Michael said cockily as I passed my Samsung Galaxy across the table. Victor picked it up looking annoyed, turning it off speaker and walking out the room to have the animated talk to Michael.

'How can you get transferred so Vick doesn't have to boss you around,' Will pretended to sulk, laying on the table. 'Can Michael get us over there too?' He gestured to Uriel, who just looked slightly amused. Uriel doesn't care where he works, as long as he gets the space to pace and someone to talk too when nothing makes sense. I made a fairly good companion for his late nights I-have-no-idea-what's-happening talks as I normally had headphones in or reply back to him with equal confusion. I suppose Uriel was happy as long as Will was here, because he could be his chat buddy when I was gone.

'I feel like Ella will be grounded in England,' Uri said lightly, and Will laughed.

'Yeah, he's not letting you near Joe again, not after the emotional heartbreak last time. His emotional heartbreak, that is. You just ate cupcakes and went to Cornwall.' Will said, nicking my slushee and taking a sip before I grabbed it back. 'Just be sensible – and thankful we haven't told Mom or Dad.'

One good thing about my brothers; they all tore me apart when they found out I got recklessly drunk and ended up waking up next to Joe Matthews. It was only massive news as whilst the Benedict's were the main Savant family in America working against other Savant crimes, the Matthews' in England were the English version. Me waking up in his shirt (that detail didn't make it to Colorado), and just his shirt alone (thankfully, nor did that) next to him naked (Nor did that) with neither of us remembering anything (however, that did) was quite big news across both families. My family was angry with Joe, them thinking it was him leading me on, even though if you add the whole me knowing he's my Soulfinder part to the story it was most likely me leading him on, and Joe's family was also annoyed at Joe for being wreckless. All my brothers knew and had various degrees of rants at me, with Trace sitting me down and telling me how much of an idiot I was until I started crying again, and he then apologised refusely and said he only said it because he cared, to Vick yelling at me as I put in my headphones, to Zed laughing a bit too hard one night. However, none of them told my parents, so thankfully I didn't have to sit through _the talk_ again. I mean, _the talk_ was funny enough the first time but I couldn't deal with it another time around. I was cry laughing at the end of the first talk when Karla told me to about the different forms of contraceptive with a very serious face, and I was there crying. I'm not the best person during awkward situations.

'Very thankful.'

'We can't have Mom telling you about how to remain safe. God, that was the highlight of the year.' He said, and Uriel smiled.

'You wasn't there when Ella came back from having the implant in,' Uri said, 'She could have fainted.'

'There were some questions that night. She just asked who it was, and I went on and told her about the mass murderer we was on about thinking she was on about the case, not the implant. But serious note, guys, don't ever hook up with mass murderers, Mum won't be happy.' I said and Will laughed again. We continued that conversation until Vick came back in about fifteen minutes later.

'You're flying back to England in a week, we compromised.' He said, chucking my phone at me as I grabbed it.

'That's not compromise, that's extending a previous deadline. That's what I did in middle school. Amateur work.'

'Why were you all laughing so much?' Vick said, sitting down before taking off his blazer and tie and undoing the top button of his shirt. I guessed it was relax and brotherly talk time.

'Did you know that Ella basically told Mom she was sleeping with a mass murderer which is why she had the implant?' Will asked, and Vick looked slightly horrified. As brothers and sister, we were all very open to each other. I mean, you grow up with seven testosterone-charged guys around you, you learn to adapt to their behaviour. And when they grow up around you, the taboo of talking girly things such as sex and periods and contraceptive wear out very quickly. So now, my brothers were all fluent in lady talk, and we can discuss things such as sex, periods and contraceptives with no odd looks. Apart from Vick, who just seemed a bit baffled by it all.

'What?' He asked.

'When I had the implant in, what, like two years ago for that case with John stabby murder guy, you know the one?'

'Oh, they wanted the implant in just to keep the paperwork neat?'

'Yeah, that's the one, Xav blurted it out when he said he was gunna heal the cut where they put it in, and I told Mum I had the implant. That night before she came to bed she came up and asked me quietly who it was. I was tired and confused and very hormonal and teary, and I just told her the guy we thought was the murderer. I realised after she meant who the guy was I was getting it on with. Basically, Mum though I was doing the frickle frack with John stabby guy.'

Vick burst out laughing, grabbing his bottle of diet Pepsi from the fridge under the desk, before taking a sip.

'What I would do to see that conversation.' He said, as the pictures from the Heathrow carvings of weird patterns came through, and he connected his laptop to the projector in the room so we could all see them. With Will sitting so close next to me, and us joking around like this, none of us bothered to shield and I could nick Will's gift pretty easily, almost like it was my own. I could sense that these markings were danger to me, for some reason. Probably because I'd go out for the arrest mission, but it was also linked to the men with the Bags for Life on the uninhabited island. Whatever this was, a threat or a warning or something benign, it had something to do with those men but it was up to me to think of that link and stop it before it was too late.


	19. Chapter 19 - Ella

Chapter 19 – Ella

 _Three days later, July._

'We do have some conditions for this trip of yours Ella,' Mom said and I nodded, taking a sip of my hot chocolate I managed to get from free from the local Costa. Turns out, the barista who works the 6am morning shift has a massive crush on me, and as I'm the only one ever to come in six in the morning into a small town Costa chain, it gives us time to talk. He seems like a very sexist pig, saying quite a few "females belong in the kitchen" comments, so I took my free hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream and left. Even though it was cold, it still was pretty good and gave me the motivation to follow this conversation through.

Karla was sat in her dressing gown on the other side of the table, with her morning cup of coffee. She said we needed to have a talk after Michael said the investigation could last up to four weeks, so I would have to be over there for that amount of time and wouldn't be able to come back until we're done and got a form of conclusion. Even though I've spent longer in England with Michael, for some reason I still had to have the conversation. Not only that, Xav and Crystal had forced themselves to be up at half seven in the morning just to listen to this morning bollocking, and leaned against the kitchen counter in their pyjamas, their coffee sipping strangely synchronised. I had given them several sideways look, gesturing my head slightly to the door but both of them didn't budge. Scums - they would find this amusing.

'You'll behave over in England, like you did last time.' Karla asked, and Crystal laughed into her coffee mug. Xav elbowed her in the ribs, before putting his arm around her waist so they looked completely normal when Karla turned around.

'I'll behave.' I grounded out, as both Xav and Crystal made some very rude gestures of what could have happened when got drunk. I still couldn't remember that night, which was both relaxing and nerve racking. I kind of assumed my memory would come back as it crept away but nothing. At least, if I had no memory, I wouldn't walk around regretting it but I think we probably all know what I was stupid enough to do that night, and it was those kinds of signs Xav and Crystal were making. I swallowed my laugher, trying not to show any emotion to my brother and Crystal.

'You won't get in any trouble,'

'When have I ever got in trouble,' I asked, smiling sweetly.

'Darling, you do have a track record for being impulsive and thinking of consequences after,' Karla said sweetly, touching my hand as if it'll soften the comment. 'Okay, so we got over the trouble comment you also have to promise me that you'll take care of yourself.'

'I double on that one, as well.' Xav said, pointing his mug at me slightly. Crystal just looked at him slightly, before leaning into him. I watched as Xav put his arm around Crystal's waist, muttering something to her and her nodded response before he kissed the top of her head. They were so cute together, I wanted to punch myself in the face. I wished it could have been like that with Joe and myself, but there was no chance. Not only did I bugger it up by leaving him in the hotel room, but I accidentally ignored the text message he sent me mid-April, a week after I came back from. It simply said "Hey x", but I didn't bother replying. Mainly because I blushed so hard and just locked my phone, incredibly happy he cared enough to talk but I cocked that up by forgetting to reply – and by the time I noticed it was like three days later and it was too awkward to reply.

'Ella,' Karla said, clicking her fingers as I jumped back. I raised my eyebrow at her. 'You were daydreaming- again.'

'Was I?'

'Yes, have you got something on my mind, Eleanor?' Mum asked, and I shook my head and shrugged at the same time.

'Of course not, I'm good. Just the case... it's a bit odd.' I said, playing with the grains of sugar on the table. Overheard, I heard Karla say something to Xav and Crystal about giving up some space, and the two love birds filed out the room, pushing each other gently as a joke as they closed the kitchen door.

'What's on your mind, Eleanor?' Karla asked, grabbing the cafetiere and refilling her cup of coffee. I was barely three quarters of the way through my cold hot chocolate. But God, did I hate her calling me Eleanor. To be fair, I hated anyone calling me Eleanor. Okay, confession time legally my name was Eleanor. The only thing that changed after the car crash was my last name - from Evan's to Benedict. Unforchunately, I couldn't shorten down Eleanor to Ella but that was on the list for things to do.

'Ella, and nothing, something about the case doesn't seem quite right, you know?' I simply said, hoping the thin lie would veil my true fear – seeing Joe again. God, I promised myself I would never turn into the girl who got so hooked up onto a guy that I couldn't get him out of my mind, but I had become that person without me even knowing.

'What is the case?'

'Those weird markings that have now been reported in fifteen buildings in New York suburbs, as well as seventh plinths in Heathrow's departure hall all concordant to each other. They are exact same size, same width, the same markings, and same depth. Everything. There has been some copies from people trying to make some interesting comments for their town and some media attention but they've been cleared of any suspicion. The only place where all the concordant markings were found was in the 2A departure hall at Heathrow, and spread around across down town New York. It's... confusing, I can't get my head around it. It could take ages for the person to make another marking to help narrow it down but,' I explained.

'You need to look after yourself when you're on a case, Ella.' Karla said, the concern dripping from her voice.

'I do,'

'Ella, you haven't eaten properly in like two weeks, before this case even started.' Karla whispered, tucking a greying strand of hand behind her ear.

'I've just felt a bit sick, under the weather if you will. Probably because I got a bit too cold one day and caught something, nothing major. I'm fine.' I lied. I had just felt sick all the time. Well, not sick more like constantly bloated and even the faintest smell of food was enough to make me feel ill. It happens to loads of people, I'll be fine, probably. It's more of getting my body back into a cycle of eating meals at regular times.

'Michael needs to get you back into that routine, we trust him too, but will you try?'

'Yeah, of course I will. I'll be safe, won't look for trouble and eat, I got it.' I said back, downing the rest of my Costa, flinching slightly as the chocolately remains at the bottom of the take out cut hit the back of my throat.

'I love you, my dear girl.' Karla said, standing up and coming around the table to hug me, 'I just hope one day you'll find your man.' She whispered as she embraced me. The good thing about Karla was she never expected me to call her "Mom" or whatever because it was just weird for her, me and Saul all at the same time. I didn't mind, it felt weird calling my Aunt and Uncle Mom and Dad, and it was still weird calling someone Mom. I mean, growing up English meant I had always said Mum and Dad, like I do now, but in public I had to pretend it wasn't weird for me and was in fact natural, so I had to grit my teeth and bare it. But Karla was the same height as me, which worked in our favour for the whole I'm-their-daughter lie.

But the latter of the comment made my heart drop completely. I felt guilty and panicky to my core. Karla thought all my issues would be resolved the second I found my Soulfinder, but that was exactly why I didn't tell Joe. Because it wasn't fair on him. Some days I find it incredibly hard to get up and even act human, and I couldn't let myself shackle up with someone as happy and as wonderfully really as Joe, because I could just ruin and destroy his already decent life. Joe was the type of guy most girls would dream of having. Thoughtful, dedicated to you even though he doesn't know you, and really good looking as well. He went through years of bullying, and the only thing that caused him to work out and became a healthy weight for a 13 year old was the idea of meeting his Soulfinder – meeting me. I couldn't tell him it was me, and he did all of that for me. He would be disappointed because I'm not really anything. I'm sure it would crush him knowing the one pivotal point of his life, the idea of meeting his Soulfinder, wasn't worth it because it was only shitty old me. It would ruin him.

Wouldn't it?

Xav and I sat side by side on the lifeguard chair in the swimming pool centre our parents own, both of us curled up on the chair at odd angles, overlooking the pool. It was now just after midday, Saturday, where the fitness fanatics had gone home having done their morning laps, and outcome the teens and the families. Strewn across the recreational pool were pregnant woman who read it was good to swim to strengthen muscles or whatever, if that was even a thing, parents with young children who were splashing around the shallows and various different friendships. Of course, there were people who just wanted to swim, but they were being babysat by Zed in the normal pool, even though Zed was probably not watching, having persuaded Sky to come and help him, whilst Xav and I had to occupy the fifty-odd people sitting in this pool.

This pool was one of the largest in Colorado for recreation but also doubled up as an underwater vertical bungee jump, although the harnesses had already been locked up within the wall by us this morning, and the controls had been put down to the bare minimum, with only the most pathetic wave known to humanity – only one third of a foot – went through the pool at one time. The controls to increase the waves were at the top of the platform pillar, under a four digit padlock, and a personalised key in order to start the initial responses and toddlers like to run around and press buttons. It would be their fault if they fall and get injured. My job is to keep my eyes on the water.

Both Xav and I were sitting on the chair, in basic swimwear – Xav was in trunks and I was in the light blue bikini which I hated but was forced to wear it anyway. We than had a florescent yellow shirt we had to wear over the top with "LIFEGUARD" heat printed on which I had begged Yves to burn for me. He refused, so my attempt to get rid of it was to 'accidently' drop it into the pool earlier and currently it was "hanging out to dry" thrown in the corner dripping wet.

'When are you going to England, again?' Xav asked, leaning into the chair. Even though the chair was only designed for one, it was o big it could easily fit two in it and even leave us some space. I was sitting with my legs up, tracing patterns on my own legs watching a haggle of girls in Sophomore year tighten their bikini tops when they saw Xav was actually awake. Clearly, they don't know about Crystal.

'Four days,' I simply muttered.

'Surprised Mom didn't get you escorted over there,' Xav joked, and I laughed slightly. 'What were the conditions you settled with?'

'Uh, normal bed time, not staying out too late, self care, regular meal times and no going out and getting completely drunk with your Soulfinder when he doesn't know,' I listed off, tiggling my leg with my finger tips.

'Oh, precise.' Xav joked. I knew Crystal would have told him – they don't have any secrets between them – but Xav was the only brother who hadn't tried to talk me into a relationship that I wouldn't be comfortable in. 'Didn't think the last one would be so specific.'

'Oh, it was very coded, don't worry. More like "Don't get drunk... like last time", she had no idea what happened last time,'

'Good news that she doesn't. Imagine the bollocking you could get if she did know.' Xav joked, 'We'd never see you again. She's very Christian about you,' Xav joked and I rolled my eyes and Xav laughed harder at my response.

'Shut up,' I joked, as he shrugged but still continued to laugh, he looked at the clock sitting forward slightly. I realised what he meant just by the way he leaned forward. He was excited or intrigued, and I could guess the public hours at the pool were coming to a close. Now, we had an hour or two to drain the pool and fill it back up again, raise the base and pull out the harnesses from the wall and get them ready for a kid's party at four this afternoon.

'Why do you think you'd ruin him – out of curiosity?'

'Ever since I attempted suicide,' as soon as I mentioned it I could see the concern and almost annoyance on his face, the muscle under his eye twitched as he looked away. I know the affect it had on my family; it nearly tore them apart with them still having split views on how to treat me now. Vick has gained the attitude that I must be well now and can withstand the normal amount of pressure when working without having a mental breakdown. All my other brothers understand I have to go at my own pace. But Xav has seen a lot more than everyone else has. He was the one who realised I had overdosed when he came running into my room. If he didn't wake up, I would be in my grave right now. He also had the notion if he woke up sooner I would be fine. 'That's why. That affect it had on everyone. The reason you get scared when I take pain killers or I sleep a bit too deeply and you can't wake me up. I'm a mess, you know that. I've already put enough strain on our family, I couldn't add him to that.'

'You're only doing it because you care about him, then? Not because you don't want too, it's because you care too much before he even knows?' Xav asked, and I just nodded. 'You're not giving him the chance because you don't want to risk hurting him?'

'Yup.'

'And no one understands that?' Xav asked, and I guessed that he understood a bit better than everyone.

'Nope.'

'I see,' He said completely serious. And when Xav was serious, something was seriously up. I know Xav was thinking I was making a mistake, and he's normally right even though I'd never mention it . So if eve Xav thought I was making the wrong choice... was I? I only told him hoping he would agree and tell me it was my choice and no one else's, which is what he normally does, but he just said he see's where I'm coming from. He doesn't agree with what I'm saying, but he can see the viewpoint. He knew I was probably making the wrong choice, so was I? I trusted his opinion a lot more than I trust my own. Mine was biased as and had been persuaded by myself that Joe meant a mess and to steer clear of him. But Xav didn't agree, and he could see the entire situation from about seventeen different viewpoints. He knew I was making a mistake but it was too late for me to dig myself out of it.

What kind of a mess have I made for myself?


	20. Chapter 20 - Joe

**Chapter 20 – Joe**

 _July 5_ _th_

I sat at one of the tables by the coffee stand in Maui Headquarters, sipping it slowly. My brothers who worked here sat opposite me, both of them on their laptops as I continued to sip my coffee. It was a pretty early start, and I was at base as the sun came up at about six this morning. This was my third coffee – admitantly the first coffee was provided by my Mum as she woke up me up at half four as she knew I was crabby until my first coffee. The other two I had at base, but it wasn't the dose of caffeine that got me buzzing out of my skin. I looked up at the clock. 8:09am. Ella's flight was due to land in Glasgow any minute now, and my body and brain was hyper alert for the arrival. For what felt like no apparent reason, I just wanted Ella back.

The morning after the party, I woke up with only my boxers on in what didn't feel like my hotel room. I mean, all hotel rooms seem the same and have the same generic lay out, but it was the little details that didn't add up. Like, I had clocked into the hotel but left nothing in my room apart from a few bits of clothing and a book in case I woke up early the next morning, but that was it. And even those were tucked into the chest of drawers, in the top draw to the left. I rememebered exactly where I put it. But when I woke up, there was bits and bobs everywhere. There was a jacket folded up on the right side of the bed, on the bed side cabinit, and tucked into it was the lead of a phone charger but no phone attached. On the floor was the suit I wore the night previous at the event. I also remember the crashing headache and hangover I had got from drinking too muh the night before, and how it was almost painful to keep my eyes open. But I noticed some other things in the few seconds my eyes were open; a toiletry bag on the top of the dresser, and on the floor a pair of white fairy wings, with the edges fading to burnt black, and kicked too one side a white and black hemmed dress. Only one person was in white last night; Ella. Squinting heavily against the light, even though the curtains were black out curtains and the faintest amount of light managed to trail into the room it was too much. On the floor, I found her laptop and opened up the lid and turned it on. Sure enough, when it loaded up it asked me for the password, but was enough to show me the different account it had on there; Admin, Guest, and Ella Benedict. Not only that it was asking me straight away to connect to their home WiFi, or Maui or just a digit of about seventeen numbers and letters. I had woken up in just my boxers in Ella's room. Uh oh.

I rolled over and grabbed my phone from the bedside cabinit, and called Jake up straight away to ask what had happened to me last night and how I ended up in such a predicament. Jake had told me I basically spent the night with Ella. Unfortunately, Michael, Ella's brother, was in the room when I called and he overheard everything and immedietly called his sister to see her side of the story. I escaped her room and went straight up a floor to my room, unlocking the door telekinetically, before falling asleep for another seven hours up there. By the time I woke up again, the girls had all left the hotel and was on their way to Cornwall, Ella leaving without a faintest memory of what happened that night.

But ever since then, I've been caught up on her. Everytime I heard her name, my heart increased tenfold and I got excited but panicky to see her at the same time. I had what could be the world's biggest crush on my boss' little sister and I couldn't whisper a word of it to anyone. I mean, for the last three months, since the party, Michael has just given me the dirtiest look ever.

A silver lining came my way in the form on anonymous threats. A weeks or so ago, a middle school teacher in down town New York found some carvings in the wall near her class room, and told the head teacher who then told the police. The police over there had over 30 more complaints about these mysterious markings on walls of public buildings or schools. Each of them had the same markings, carved into the walls or whatever. It was scattered over a 30 mile radius, some six of the marks making out the outlines, and another fourteen were scattered around inside. More reports had been coming in since then, having only just been found. Some were cleared near enough instantly because they lacked one key detail; they lacked the similaries. All of these marks were identical. They were all the same size, same width, chiselled into the wall in the exact way and even had the same proportional rotation of the curves of the writing. However, we don't know what it says. It's clear it's in a foreign dialect, but the American authories had cleared all languages spoken in over 750 years, and also cleared out any mildly obvious bet. One of the officers over there said it was a threat, a warning of some sort, but one that we couldn't decode. What kind of shitty secret service couldn't decode a threat? Thankfully, it was left in the hands of the Americans.

Until the marks had also appeared in Heathrow's departure hall. Seven of the marks, all identical, on the support plinths going down the centre of departure hall 2A. So we were scrambled for the case, and had to clear all the dialects as well. Sure enough, it was the exact same height, width, thickness and chisel used as the ones in America. So we had to try and get the best people we could on the case to solve it and to work out what the threat was. Michael managed to persuade his Uncle and Aunt, Ella's parents, to let her stay for a few weeks at his so she can work on the case on the English side, before no doubt flying back over to leave me alone again.

The flight date had slowly crept up, and at midnight in Colorado, she jumped on a private jet sent by Maui, and would fly from Colorado to Glasgow, before she would be put on a helicopter to fly the remaining distance straight into the Maui base. Many flights from Denver International airport would land at Heathrow, and if it was a threat against someone of the authories, we had to protect them. So Ella had to fly on a private jet in the dead of night without her passport stamped or anything. There were no official records as to why she was over here. If anyone even checked, it would say her last flight was back home to Colorado late April time.

I took another sip of my coffee, amazed I spent over twenty minutes in a day dream.

'You need to turn your brain off, Joe.' Quinn gently said, taking a sip of his tea. 'It's like a carnival in there.'

'Why are you in my brain?' I asked him gently.

'I'm no where near your brain, you're leaking all your messy shit everywhere. We understand that Ella is cute, but we don't want to hear about your crush on her.' Quinn said again, and I smiled. I liked Quinn. He was the equivalent of a therapy dog; calming in his presense, but also hyperactive in the way he acts. Not only that, everyone finds Quinn really quite cute as he's always eager but is shy as well.

'Ella's flight has landed, she's now on the helicopter which has taken off four minutes ago. About 28 minutes until she lands on the northern helipad on sight. It's all been cleared.' Jake said, not looking up from his Mac as he spoke. I could only guess he was the one who was clearing all the airspace issues from her. As secret services can't really speak across public domain such as air traffic control, we had to constantly type and clear the airspace ourselves, writing messages to prop up to anyone who questions the presence.

'Where's the northern helipad – I thought there was only one.' I asked, and that one was in the middle of the lawn, about two acres away from anything either direction. It was clearly a helipad as it was marked out on asphalt as a giant H in a circle. Jake simply pointed up.

'There's a helipad on the top of this building. For emergencies only – to get directly down into this building if there's trouble, or straight into the hospital if there's medical emergencies. Ella's only been cleared because, well, it's Ella.' Jake explained.

'No – don't start thinking about her again, your brain is messy enough as it is.' Quinn joked, looking at his laptop.

'What are you doing?' I asked him, and he shrugged with one shoulder. Everyone could tell Jake and I were brothers; we looked near enough the same. The same thick brown hair we always quiff up, same height and muscle proportions... everything. Apart from eye colour, that was the only pending difference. Jake had bright green eyes, whilst I had kind of bluey-greeny murky eyes. And the fact I had an inch or two on Jake. However, Quinn looked completely out of place. About six foot, with curly blonde hair and deep brown eyes and a childish smile which caused a dimple in his cheek, he was all the guy's best friends and the name all teenage girls wrote in their school planner in the middle of art class.

'Writing up the dialect report for the Government. They're taking more interest as now three extremist groups are claiming it's them.' Quinn shook his head slightly. 'It's amazing, they all want credit because no one can solve it. They don't know the other's are claiming it, discrediting them all at the same time.'

'So it's not a group?' I asked.

'Correct,'

'So who is it?' I then asked further, as Jake put in his headphones.

'It's "whom", watch your grammatical terms please. And we don't know who the relevant party is at the moment, that is why we've called in your crush to come and help us.'

Half an hour later, we heard the sound of a helicopter landing on the top of the roof but no one paid much attention to it. I continued to look at the door that lead to the roof, just visible from where I was sitting by the coffee table. It took a few minutes for the sound of the engines to cut out completely, then another five minutes after that for the door to open. I saw a green light appear next to the door, meaning it was unlocked by someone of high authorities, and sure enough Michael came through the door, carrying Ella's suitcase. A few more members of the helicopter team came through the door, and Michael stood to one side, thanking them all. Well, he can appear human to them but not to me.

Ella then decided to come through the door, kicking it closed with a thump behind her. She was in a pair of high top converse, dark blue skinny jeans and a jumper that looked very familiar. It was quite a few sizes too big for her, making her look like a dumpling slightly, but it was in a heather grey colour which went well against her slightly tanned skin. I realised why that jacket was so familiar. It was the jacket I gave to Ella after we did that interview a few months back when Susan told me she was cold and needed a jacket promptly. I completely forget I gave it to her, but I was more amazed that she kept it and was even wearing it when she was on a long haul, nine hour flight plus however long the helicopter ride took. She jogged slightly to keep up with Michael, but then started talking to him. They stopped by the lift, Ella hesitating before saying something to him. She then ran down the stairs to the ground floor as Michael took the glass lift to the floor with her suitcase. She jumped down the last four stairs at the same time onto this floor, rolling up her sleeves.

'I thought you felt sick,' Michael asked her as he got out the lift.

'Yeah, I do. Still managed to beat you, though.' I heard her say, and my stomach completely dropped when I saw her turning this way with a massive grin on her face. It only took one look at her for me to fall back for her – four months of rehabilitation work to get her out of my head all crushed because she came back over for a case.

'Do you want to go home if you're ill, then? Home meaning my home and not Colorado your home,' Michael said, as their conversation came nearer to us.

'I'll be fine, I might go back later if I still feel this shit.'

'Didn't Xav make sure you're okay before you left?'

'He did, but I've been like this for a few weeks now. Probably just a summer cold...'

'Or you've been a twat and have been using your gift too much. Stalking your boyfriend over here –' Michael said with a pointed tone, his eyes catching mine like Velcro. He so knew what happened between Ella and myself that night and I clearly wasn't his favourite person.

'Stop it.' She said back,

'No, Ella, he –'

'We both know how much of a slut I am drunk. Just drop it, okay.' Ella said, and my heart dropped. I had a faintest notion that she might have actually felt the same way back as I do, that maybe there was a chance that she liked me back. But that comment cut all those dreams at the same time. The way she phrased it sounded like she's done it before and she will do it again. I looked away, busying myself flicking through the ringbinder of work that Quinn was copying up for the report. Above my head, I could hear Ella and Jake hug, then some faint conversation with Jake even going "bloody hell, you're freezing today," and even some well meant jokes between Quinn and her. I simply looked up on cue to see her staring at me with concern in her eyes. The concern was almost palpable, and considering this is someone who can hide all their emotions in seconds, it was a cause for alarm.

'Alright?' I simply asked, allowing only two seconds to look at her before going back to my ringbinder. It almost felt like ripping a scab of a cut – a few seconds of relief and happiness that you've done it before the pain and intense sensation of clotting. I was happy I could control my urges, but there was pain when I had to keep looking away.

'Yeah, I guess. You?' She muttered, and I just shrugged. I then could hear Michael saying something about letting her get showered and changed before coming back here for a while. So she wasn't going back to Michael's yet, and was spending the day here. Wow, that was going to do miracles for my crush.


	21. Chapter 21 - Joe

**Chapter 21 – Joe**

At midday, everyone who was at base was reported to turn up to the forest training centre for some team building work – no doubt because Ella was here. I found out why Susan, the boss who had arranged this little team building exercise, was so fond of Ella. Both her and Michael were hired temporarily to help on the case of a mass murdering Savant just under nine years ago. Susan's youngest brother was the fourth victim of this mass murder, and the youngest brothers identical twin was next on the hit list. Ella and Michael had combine their gifts and managed to stalk down the mass murderer to his exact coordinates only minutes before his next murder, and the twelve year old Ella had managed to knock him out. A dwindle, twelve year old girl had knocked out a forty-eight year old muscle machine just by freezing the fluid in his lungs and reducing the temperature of the tissues around his heart, causing him to pass out within seconds. Susan was forever grateful because both Michael and Ella had saved her brother getting murdered in the exact same way as his twin.

We all stood, about thirty five of us, by the forest training centre in the middle of the woods to the right of the main headquarters. This is where the fitness tests were done when you first had to pass – you had to do this circuit seven times, running 3.6 miles in between each lap. If you gave up, you were out. You had twelve hours to do it. It was completely visible, but it was that determination to keep going was the thing they were looking for. The circuit started off with 1.5 mile run, which was had skipped, before a series of obstacles. An 8 foot wooden wall you had to jump over, ropes, draw bridges, zip wires, rock climbing walls and climbing frames. Anything you could image was in the two mile stretch of obstacles; many of them were in the tree top. Even though there was safety netting under them all, as you had no safety ropes you were completely screwed if you fell.

'As you are all aware, we are on code red for operation Lions beak,' Lions beak was the code name given to the markings on the wall, and included all the information about the American's research as well as ours. 'Ella Benedict has flown over from America earlier today to help us all find the source of these messages, so we're going to do a bit of "training" to get our minds focused. However, we don't want it to be dull and boring so in random drawn pairs, you're all going to complete this course together. You have to work as a team in order to pass at the end, if not; we have paint ball guns being armed by the admin team. You must cross each check point at the same time. Not only that, you can pick the music you want to listen too all the way around.' Susan explained, as people started laughing and quietly talking. It was off for Susan to be this nice and this up for everyone bunking off work whilst still getting paid.

Ella quickly walked up to the starting platform and pulled out a name of the hat Susan held to her. She had stripped off her jeans and my jumper (!) and was now in some Nike running tights and a baggy shirt, all of it in black. It made it slightly easier to notice how pale she looked despite having a very slight tan. As she picked the name, I prayed it would be me. I would love to do this course with her. Please be me.

'Jake, son, get your bum up here.' Susan called, and I was so jealous. Jake, my married brother, got to have the pleasure of doing this with her? I knew it was nothing and they were just really good friends that had been talking quite a bit in the last few months since she first came over, but I craved to have that closeness to her. I wanted that more than anything and I screwed it up because I probably slept with her one night. Think before you drink, kids.

Both of them looked through the list of songs, talking to each other and laughing before finally settling on one. Ella circled the song, as Jake put on the tracking tag around his ankle, bending down to do Ella's for her as she was handed the iPod to put the music on. They both jumped down off the little platform Susan was standing on with her megaphone to the rudimentary start line – a spray painted red line across the front. A few moments later, Fall Out Boy's latest album started blaring out of the speakers, starting with "Uma Thurman"

'Three, two, one, go!' Susan said, as everyone cheered as both of them ran towards the wall, jumping up and climbing up its nearly flat surface in a few skilled motions, sitting on top before jumping down together. I had seriously underestimated how physically fit Ella was in order to do all of this. There was some tall giants at this place – I was considered one of them – so they made the obstacles higher. I mean, that wall was just under twice her height and she completely nailed it. So did Jake, to be fair.

An hour or so later, I finished the course. My partner turned out to be no fun at all and every time I mentioned to him something, a topic to discuss he told me to be quite and focus on the "mission" at hand. Even though it wasn't a mission but was actually meant to be fun. But he kept running off around the corners, meaning we kept getting shot by the receptionists and my previous black jeans and dark blue shirt have now coloured paints splattered up it and I could feel the tingling sensation under my clothes of the bruises that will arise in the next few hours. But as we crossed the finishing line two and a half odd miles from the start line. Everyone who was called before us was sitting around on the grass, sunbathing in the abnormally warm temperatures of July. I jogged up to Quinn, who went a few rounds before I did.

'Took your time,' Quinn gently said, hugging me to his side as he did. By the looks of it, he had only got shot with a paintball once, the pink colour spreading us his arm where it had splattered. 'Who'd you get?'

I simply tilted my head to the guy I had to do it with, who had stopped to do press ups on the floor. Unbelievable.

'Yeesh, you had a good time then. Have you seen Jake? I thought he would still be around here, they must have finished it like half an hour ago.' Quinn said.

'I have no idea, he wouldn't've wondered off without us,' I said and Quinn nodded looking around. Quinn looked towards the toilets, where we could just see Jake coming out, with his arm around Ella. Ella however didn't look too good, and was very pale and looked incredibly small and hunched over. Quinn and I jogged over to them both as Ella hugged herself making herself slightly smaller.

'You alright?' I asked Ella, but it seemed more of a free-for-all question as I spoke, but I kept my eyes firmly on Ella. She had managed to loose most of her colour and almost manage to blend into the light grey of my jumper that she had put on again over her running clothes.

'Ella's not feeling too good,' Jake said gently, hugging her gently. He waved Michael to come over, who was covered in paint where either he kept running off in front of the person he did the course with, or vice versa. He came over but only to give me a dirty look, compared to my brother who had his arm arounds her.

'What's up?' Michael asked.

'Ella been sick, four times if we're being precise. She should probably go home,' Jake said. 'I can drive her home if you want?' Jake told Michael but Ella just shook her head.

'Nope,' she whispered struggling from Jake's grip.

'She won't let anyone else drive her home, that's why I brought her car to work. But she's in no fit state to drive.' Michael said.

'I'm fine,'

'Ella, hun, stop.' Quinn said to her.

'I'll get a train, it's fine. It's only one change from Guildford to that station in town, I'll be okay.' Ella mumbled.

'You don't know the way to the train station, we're not just going to let you go explore Guildford when you're throwing u everywhere. I knew you wasn't well, I should have taken you home the second you landed and I shouldn't've let you do this either,' Michael told her, and she just shrugged.

'I didn't know I was your dog you could order around,' she snapped back, but hugged herself again.

'I can take her to the train station,' I said, and Michael shot me the evils again. He opened his mouth to say something witty, but Quinn butted in before he could.

'None of us know the way, Joe does. Just this one time, it might be best – for Ella's sake,' Quinn explained to Michael. Thankfully for us, Quinn's gift can occasionally leak out and calm people down to the point of persuasion, and as it was leaking out now. Michael shrugged.

'Okay, but I swear if you touch her, you'll have to deal with me,' Michael said coming over and standing in front of me.

'Oh yeah, and what would you do? Put him in some chicken nuggets, come on Michael grow up a bit.' Ella muttered under her breath and Jake started laughing. I guess when Ella was ill she turned into a sharp, witty dark humoured shit who just couldn't be bothered to take anyone's shit. Fair enough, really. If I just got off a nine hour plane journey, straight into a helicopter from Glawsgow to Guildford, before doing a two miles obstacle course all whilst feeling sick before throwing up four times I wouldn't want my brother's older protective speech. I tried not to laugh and just nodded.

'I won't touch Ella,' I simply said as Jake carried on laughing, hitting Ella on the arm gently as she smiled again.

'Okay, I'm just going to get my backpack I'll be back out in a second,' Ella said, hugging herself and slowly walking back towards the rear entrance to the main headquarters as the rest of us milled around.


	22. Chapter 22 - Joe

**Chapter 22 – Joe**

About twenty minutes later, I sat on the concrete stairs at the front of base. I had to get changed, as my clothes were covered in paint, and mud splatters, and I was pretty sweaty as well, and as it was a five minutes' walk to clear the ground of Maui, then another twenty minute walk just to get to the train station through crowded town centres and main pathways we had to try not to draw attention to ourselves. After Ella had walked off, Jake went after her just to make sure she was okay as Quinn went to say hello to some others, and Michael had another small chat with me away from his sisters prying ears.

It was a lovely day out; it had just turned half one in the afternoon and the temperature was at it's peak. Albeit, it was only thirty two degrees, but in England that's the equivalent of being a living barbeque, the meat on offer your internal organs. However, it was quite a muggy warm, and it was uncomfortable just sitting outside waiting for Ella. The sky was a harsh blue colour, and the sun was so bright you were practically squinting each time you looked up at the sky. The trees which covered each side of the path leading towards the front entrance of base framed the sky perfectly and it almost looked like a stock picture.

'You still okay to take me to the train station.' Ella quietly said, coming up behind me before sitting down on the stairs next to me. Despite the beating sun down she still managed to wear the hoody wrapped around her. I looked at her, sitting with me with her legs to her chest. She did have a bit more colour than she did earlier, but her eyes looked grey, and her freckles were a bit more obvious.

'Of course, but pass me your backpack.' I said, passing my hand.

'No, it's fine, seriously.' She said.

'You're ill, Ella, you're not carrying that heavy back pack for a god knows how long walk in this heat after ten or so hours flying.' I said, and she looked over and me smiling, but she was holding something back. I could tell. It felt almost awkward between us two, and I guessed neither of us were overly willingly to discuss what happened last time we were left alone.

'Backpack, now,' I said, and she shrugged off her black backpack before passing it over to me. I stood up, throwing it over one shoulder as she stood up, closing her eyes holding onto the railing. I rushed over to her, putting my arm around her waist to stop her swaying. 'You okay?'

She rested her head on my chest, and I ran my hand through her hair, it was still slightly damp from her shower.

'Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go.' She whispered, walking down the stairs and down the path into the dirt trail that is about 10 meters from the road leading into the path. I quickly jogged down, pushing Ella's backpack onto my back a bit better, before standing next to her.

'How was your flight?' I asked, but before I even finished the sentence Ella gently took my hand, so we were walking down the path hand in hand. Whilst it felt like a slight hit on me, I was more alarmed by how cold her hand was. I looked at her, about to ask her if she's normally this cold but she bit her lip, continuing to look down the path.

'What do you think happened at the party?

'Well, depends if I listen to what other people told me,'

'No, what do you remember?' She insisted, walking a bit closer to me.

'Honestly? Not much. I remember getting caught in traffic and then we were late, and I remembered seeing you across the room and –' I paused. I should probably tell Ella the truth. She looked like she didn't trust me entirely and if I lied to her, she wouldn't trust me any further and that really wouldn't rekindle my interest in her. 'I saw you, and you look absolutely stunning. I got you a drink and brought it over to you and you stacked it straight into me, and we just spoke for the entire night although I have no idea what about. And that's pretty much it for that day?'

'What about the next morning, then?' Ella continued to probe.

'I woke up in just my underwear in your room.' I told her, and she smiled slightly and nodded. 'Why, what do you remember? Did I drink a lot more than you then?'

'Nope, I remember the exact same if not slightly less. And ever since then, it's been the butt of the family jokes.'

'Sorry,' I told her, and I meant it. I didn't want to be the reason why no one in her family trusted her to be out at night again, but it seemed like I was. I put my arm around her shoulders as she looked slightly pale, but she just put her arm around my waist and started to laugh.

'It's fine, I'm not known in the family for being the responsible one.'

'No?'

'Nope. I'm just known for... I don't know actually.' She said as we reached the gate leading onto the public road coming down to Maui. We swiped both of our passes at the gate, with it clicking open for each of other. On the other side, Ella curled back up slightly into my side, so I put my arm around her shoulders again, and her arm around my waist again. I couldn't tell if it was a romantic move, a friendship move or just to make sure she was okay to walk to the train station. I looked up on the right where the eighteen feet barbed wire fence that surrounded the Maui base. On the side showed a company for nuclear energy, with several warning signs. The bottom one stated in large capitals "TRESPASSERS WILL BE SHOT ON SIGHT" so if anyone cocked up when driving they would just turn around.

'I'm more of the family disappointment,' I told her.

'Why?'

'Mainly because, well, I didn't go to university, I haven't really "put my gift to good use" yet, I hate going out every weekend and I don't normally get drunk and wake up the next morning with a girl in my bed –' I said, before regretting the latter. Wasn't that exactly what I did to Ella?

'Normally,' She joked, taking it in good spirit.

'Well, you're the exception to everything so far,' I muttered, nudging her slightly to go left into one of the subways that would eventually take us through a residential neighbourhood and then into the town centre.

'Everything?'

'Well, I found out someone didn't have a twin brother, so that was a massive lie.'

'You believed that? And you knew Michael? Are you stupid?' She questioned me as I flicked her in the face with a strand of her own hair and she flinched slightly but laughed it away.

'It never came up in conversation and I had no reason to doubt it, did I?' I joked as we walked up the other side of the subway into the semi-detached houses of three or four bedroom homes in southern Guildford. Did these people realise they live about ten minutes away from a Government secretive base with loads of psychiatric patients who have been locked away for murder? Unlikely.

'Every other Savant family have seven kids, mine had eight. Didn't that ring a bell?' She said, but it wasn't a dig. She was just curious.

'There's a few that have eight – twins for the seventh children. Michael and his younger brothers and sisters. I didn't question it because it's not really my business, is it?'

'I guess not.'

'We got off on the wrong start, didn't we? I mean, we never really spoke until we were both pissed.' I said gently, and she nodded.

'I guess not,' but she clenched her jaw and looked away.

'I can't do what you can do with watching people and their emotions which they show for like one thousandth or a second or whatever, but I saw you clench your jaw. You don't like me, do you?'

'No, it's not that,' Ella said gently, slowing down.

'You feel okay?'

'Yeah, it's just... I don't _hate_ you.' She said, putting emphasis on "hate", like a history teacher would put emphasis on "Hitler". Yeah, that would be the issue. It was like she was going to go "despise".

'It's just...' she shook her hair, running her hand through her hair. It was fascinating watching her hair. Bit off, I know, but she hadn't styled it in any way. It was completely natural straight, and had the life added into it when she ran her hand through her hair, and suddenly the curl in her fringe returned. 'It's just, tricky.'

'How tricky?'

'I can't really tell you,' She said, and I pulled her to a stop near the bus stop at the top of the residential road. She seemed to have lost the colour she gained and looked ghostly white again – so I wouldn't let her walk into town. She went to walk off, but I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back in slightly, but she tripped over her shoes and landed against my chest again, hands spread against my chest. In a natural response to catch her, I put my arms around her back.

'Careful,' I said, but she just stayed leaning into my chest for a second. 'But you can't tell me, or won't tell me?'

'No offense, but it's more don't want too.'

'Intriguing,' I joked, my mouth kissing her hair involuntarily. 'Why not?'

'It's complicated, it's not about you apart from it is in a way, I just... I dunno anymore. I thought I was doing the right decision but I don't know if I am or if I'm not.' She said, still not shifting from my chest. I kept one arm around her waist, the other arm around her shoulder rubbing her back as I swear she was about to cry. I could enter her mind but she had just started to trust me and I didn't want her to think I was betraying her.

'Don't worry about me, if you think it's better to tell me, then do it. But if you're risking yourself, and only yourself, then don't. Don't worry about risking me or whatever.' I murmured. 'Okay?' and she nodded.

'You've managed to make it fifteen times more complicated, you know that right?'

'How?'

'Urh,' was all she said as the bus pulled up. I gently guided her onto the bus, scanning both of our Maui passes, which shows up on the system as a pre-paid for bus card so we get free travel whilst looking like normal citizens. The bus driver smiled affectionately at us two as I took the pass out of her jeans pocket, scanned it for her before handing it over to her. I let her walk down the bus first, as she smiled at an elderly woman on the bus, who graciously smiled back. She chose a two seater near the back of the bus, and she took the window seat as I slid in next to her.

'I didn't mean to make it complicated,' I told her as the bus started to move up the road on its circuit to the town centre.

'I know you didn't, which is how it's even more complicated,' She mumbled, leaning against the window shaking slightly.

'I don't understand,'

'Well, the thing is with the topic you went to make it complicated, you'd be an asshole. But the fact you didn't and you so understood and didn't try and force me to tell you because you're nice have made it more complicated.' Ella said, sucking her teeth. I just shook my head – could she be any more cryptic if she tried.

'What do you think of the carvings, then, miss Benedict,' I said, leaning back in the chair as she looked over at me and rolled her eyes.

'The exact same as you,'

'I have no bloody clue what they mean, why they're their or what it means.' I said, frowning.

'Then yeah, the exact same as you,' She joked. 'I dunno, I'm guessing there will be a new clue in some form in like... a few days maybe? If it's benign, it'll be nothing and it'll drop off the face of the earth. If it's a threat, they'll get bored with us doing crap all, and show another hint. It's a waiting game, now.'

'If it's a threat why don't they just do whatever they're threatening?' I asked, as the bus stopped for another person to climb on. The man who got on raised his hunter's hat and said "hello" to which Ella and I both smiled and said "Hi" back in sync.

'Nah, they want to make a show. Things like this; they'll just come out and do it, or keep it hidden. If they're doing this they want to create a show and create attention. We're not giving them any – they'll have a second attempt.' She explained, and I nodded. It made sense, actually.

'How long are you back from California,' I asked, taking her right hand in both of mine to try and warm up her icy fingers.

'Colorado,' She corrected.

'The mountain one, right?'

'Yeah, the mountain one.' Ella laughed at my English naivety of the American states.

'Do you live in Denver?' I questioned, and Ella shook her head.

'Nope, I live literally on a mountain in a small ski town about an hour out from Denver. My parents own the ski lift to the top of the runs, and also a swim school a few miles down the road in the main town centre. It's in the middle of nowhere, it's... nice.' She explained, 'But I'm only over here for a few weeks until this case is sorted out,'

'What if it's never sorted?' I gently said. 'You'd stay?'

'Oh, someone's feeling flirty today aren't we?' She joked, leaning on my arm slightly. What could I say to that? 'Believe me, it was a big enough push to let my parents allow me to come over here and be assigned the case.'

'I thought you had to get parents' permission to do anything if you're under eighteen.' I asked and she nodded.

'You're not wrong. But as I am diagnosed with mental health illnesses, if someone flags it up as potentially triggering I have to get the guardian of me to sign it off or the person whose house I'm staying it. My dickhead brother in America flagged it up "by accident" he says, so I had to get Michael to sign it as well as my parents.' She explained and I nodded.

'Well, at least you're over here now.' I muttered, putting my arm around her shoulders in what was a friendly gesture. But my brain was trying to trick me. I was only doing this because she wasn't feeling too well after her flight, but was there something more to it. I was cherishing every moment I had being this close to her, and she was only like this because she was ill – right?

'You did ask what was wrong with me. Most people do when they I say "I have mental health issues",' Ella mumbled, leaning her weight on me as the bus got slightly more full as we approached the town centre.

'I don't mind if I don't know, as long as you're safe and you're okay. I'm not going to treat you any different no matter what. You are still you, despite whatever is happening.' Ella looked up at me with tears in her eyes.

'I have a fear I ruin the people around me.' Ella said as the bus pulled into the station. Just opposite the bus station, maybe a thirty second walk away, was the train station. We got off the bus, following the stream of old people and toddlers. I grabbed her hand as we crossed the bus station pathways, but we paused outside the entrance of the train station. The display outside the front door of the station showed that the train with Wokingham as a stop was leaving in 6 minutes.

'Why do you think you're going to ruin people?' I muttered, wrapping my arms around her again. She rested her head on my chest but kept her eyes on the train platform her train was due from.

'I... just will.' She mumbled.

'Ella, you're never going to ruin anyone. I don't know where you got that thought from, but it's not true. You are just... just so wonderful and amazing, and even if you have a darker side of you it wouldn't ruin anyone.'

'I don't want to ruin you,' She whispered, as I shrugged off her backpack and put it on the ground between us before hugging her again.

'You can try your hardest, but you won't ruin me.' I whispered back. The horn from the train made us both jump, as it crawled into the station. An announcement went overhead saying the last tickets are being sold for the Wokingham train and she looked up.

'Promise?' She whispered.

'Yeah, of course. Promise.' I mumbled back as she broke away from my hug but she continued to look up at me, her eyes a wonderful greeny-grey colour with a light brown around the iris. I could stare at them for years. As I watched, she went on her tiptoes and kissed me gently. Even though I was shocked and confused, I put my arm around her back kissing her back slightly before she pulled away. I watched in shock as Ella grabbed her backpack from the floor, shrugging it over one shoulder before pulling out her base pass. She had lost a bit more of her colour as she backed away.'

'Sorry... sorry.' She said, before walking quickly into the busy Guildford train station.

'Ella, wait!' I called after her, but she was gone, having purchased her ticket already and the only sign of her I could see was the fading black backpack into the rush hour crowd.


	23. Chapter 23 - Ella

**Chapter 23 – Ella**

 _8:21pm, the same day._

I stood at the Wokingham train station that night after spending nearly six hours shopping in the old Wokingham town. Is it shopping if you didn't buy anything? I mean, the only thing I actually brought was a bottle of water to try and take sips of. I have no idea what is wrong with me; one second I am completely fine and the next second I am hit with a wave of nausea, and not only that I went really dizzy and light headed. I think the worst had passed, but it left me with a crashing headache but with no desire to go back to Michael's to rest. I knew I had to keep going and stay away to normal times as if I had my nap now, I'd be completely screwed for the rest of the morning. So I hit Wokingham town, half it a maze of Victorian-styled buildings which had been converted into chain shops, charity shops or individually, family-run shops which I had great pleasure snooping around, and thinking about what Joe had said to me.

What I did at the train station was completely uncalled for and I regretted the ignorant, slutty part of me who thought it was a good idea to kiss him. I don't even know why I thought it was a good idea. Why did I think it was a good idea? I guess it was because everything he said had talked me out of my total indecision to not tell him about the Soulfinder thing. I thought if I tested the water he would force me to tell him and it would confirm the idea that he was a prick and it would be fine. But when he said to me if I didn't want to tell him then don't. Then when I kept trying to make him say something that would classify him as a prick, he said the completely right answer and I couldn't help myself. I started to crave Joe's closeness to me. When he held my hand, then had his arm around my waist it felt completely normal and it grounded the sense of panic I had in my chest for the last few months. When I went dizzy and he hugged me, I knew there wasn't too much behind it and he was just making sure I was okay but I enjoyed it. I never wanted him to let go.

The train from Reading station pulled up into Platform 1, and I walked up a few meters to the door, hitting the button to open the door. I jumped into the carriage, and slid into the seats near the door, putting my backpack on the seat next to me. I was only on this train for one stop – six minutes – from Wokingham to Bracknell train station, where I would get off and walk for another half an hour down into the quieter area of town where Michael lives. I sat on the edge of the chair, hands in the praying gesture even though I wasn't religious over my mouth as I felt slightly sick again. Probably should have got Xav to check me out for any illnesses before I left. But he kept telling me that I was still throwing off interference, and it was the same around Vick. It was probably just because I had got better at shielding so he couldn't use his gift on me when I wasn't expecting it.

I rubbed my back slightly, flinching. Gently, I closed my eyes and when I held my shirt up slightly I could see the bruise that had formed when I got shot in the back when Jake passed the zip wire more than five seconds after I did – which counted as me running off. However, as I flinched he laughed so hard he fell off the platform and they continued to shoot the soft paintballs at me, coving me in these pound-size bruises. It was hilarious, though, and gave Jake and I a good time to catch up in everything without our brothers prying in. He told me all about the twins, who were now four months old, and how Joe wasn't really himself – not until they mentioned me coming here. Jake joked about him having a crush on me.

'Next station: Bracknell' the train voice said, and I grabbed my backpack. It was quite heavy where I had brought my carry-on items; purse and phone, a spare change of clothes which I was wearing now and my sweaty running gear was shoved down to the bottom, my laptop in that dedicated department and toiletries. There were some other bits and bobs but I couldn't remember exactly what was in there, apart from now it was doubling as a turtle shell. I watched as the train slowed down dramatically, pulling into the station and demonstrating the service yard for the retail park that was near the station. I stood up as the platform approached and walked to the door, hitting the button so it would open, before jumping off holding my phone in my pocket just in case it would fall out and head towards the tracks.

The train station at half eight at night was pretty dead; just the odd businessman coming off the train for the night and the odd shop worker heading home after closing up for the night. I readjusted the back pack, the weight proving to be too much for me at night after the flight and then the obstacle course as I walked out the gate that was open this late as the ticket booth and the gates were closed. I knew the plan for tomorrow; I had a meeting I had to sit in on with other Savant's all staring at me and trying to use their gifts of me to figure out what I was hiding.

Sighing slightly trying not to feel a fear of the dark, I untangled my headphones and played my collection of Fall Out Boy albums I had on my phone – a guilty pleasure – and shoved the buds into my ear.

 _I've got troubled thoughts,_

 _And the self esteem to match,_

 _What a catch... what a catch._

Despite being one of the older Fall Out Boy's, I could still relate to the words. Isn't that how I felt about Joe? I had trouble thoughts about him, with himself talking me and in and out of the decision. My self esteem was non existence so how could I believe I had any worth. Joe was like a God compared to the slave I was.

I crossed the road, the zebra crossing lights shining spot lights on the uneven, abundant tarmac. Even the locals knew better than to be out at night. Youths walked around with their hoods up, jeans around their ankles exposing cheap cotton boxers with un-nameable stains about the hem, shouting and drinking, and cat calling.

'Alright love shows us your tits!' One yelled across the road, the others jeering him on. Oh the temptation, I thought, to slowly freeze the blood around your body. The water content in all your blood cells, cartilage, muscle, your spinal fluid – I could slowly bring it down to freezing temperature and watch you collapse to the floor, dying of hypothermia in seconds, and laugh as the police name your death as unexplained. Mm, maybe a bit inhumane? Instead, I just stuck my middle finger up at them, and put my headphones back in, turning up the and looked up at the sky.

Within the industrial part of this town, the stars that use to litter the sky in Breckendale, in Colorado where I grew up, were fainter here. Underneath the Heathrow flight path, diamonds of red lights flow overhead, the fuselage being framed by a red glow. It was only when I started to feel sick again, but not in the throwing up way but more sick in the frontal cortex of my brain, I realised even from across the Atlantic I could connect to Saul's and Zed's gift. The scenes started to play out, even though they were faded and vague.

A plane, crammed full with passengers. Business men typing up their last few notes for a presentation abroad. Young adults going away for the week on a Lads' holiday away. Parents with young toddlers on their laps, the toddlers giggling and laughing away. The flight attendance walked to the front in their unattainable high heels, and picked up the phone from the cockpit. She smiles, hanging the phone back up, and picking up the microphone for the intercom.

'Ladies and Gentleman,' she says, her voice a gentle tone of glitter. She was looking forward to seeing her young toddler at home in New York. She hasn't seen him in a month; he must have grown a lot! 'The pilot will start his descent into JFK airport soon, so if you wouldn't mind buckling your seatbelt. Thank you for your cooperation.' She sat down, smiling, excited, and buckled her seatbelt across her lap. Little did she know, she'll never see her kid, or her husband again. Thick black smoke started to pour out of the toilet and down the aisles, causing the passengers – all 281 of them – to scream. The air hostess ran to the toilet door and opened it. My view suddenly changed to outside the airplane, where its descent was taking place. Silence. Then suddenly – BANG! The airplane exploded in midair, several large pieces falling straight down onto the busy New York streets, and many other smaller pieces drifted through the air, ablaze and still crackling. A few hours later, a news report, declaring unknown amount dead, but half of New York still on fire. Fire-fighters are working away, but it could be days until the blazes are extinguished, but the image that was shown on all media, including the news reports, was the one of a white pillar with the markings on.

I threw up on the bushes next to the path. I couldn't help it. I've seen murder first hand, been used as a decoy in drug deals and a even got shot in order to keep my brothers Soulfinder safe when he couldn't, but this was sick. Even to myself, I looked pale, and swallowed the stringy bile that came up in my throat. I didn't know what to do. I wanted to cry, I wanted to run away, but I know I have to stop it somehow. This is what the signs meant! It was a warning against a plane bomb.

 _Michael!_

 _Ella, what's up, what's wrong?_

I didn't even know I managed to talk to him telepathically, but I felt immediately more comfortable when I was in conversation with him.

 _There's going to be a terrorist attack in New York, the suburbs. That's what the markings on the pillar meant. The plane will take off from Heathrow, departure hall 2A, and it will explode over New York where the markings are there._ I tried to explain, dry gagging on nothing.

 _What!?_

 _On a plane, it's going to blow up on its descent into New York._

 _Ella, where are you – you need to come into base. I'm afraid it doesn't matter if you're ill, we can let you rest in one of the cabins you just need to explain what you know._

 _I'm in Bracknell town._

 _You left like eight hours ago._

 _Yeah, I was in Wokingham looking around – is this really a time for a bollocking for not going home?_

 _No._ He said, but I knew on the other end of the conversation he was sorting out plans quickly and I could basically hear him typing.

 _Get to the top of the Princess Car Park; I'm deploying another helicopter to come pick you up. We'll sort something out when you get here._

 _What do we do?_ I asked, trying not to cry, but the silence in my head alerted me to the fact Michael was just as confused and scared as I was.

 _I don't know. Stay safe._ He replied honestly, cutting off as he went to organise the rest of the plans to pick me up.

And suddenly, there was a clock in the back of my mind. Counting down from this second. 30 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes, and 28 seconds until impact.

* * *

 ** _And things are starting to kick off now! I haven't really added any author's notes or anything onto any chapters but I thought I should as I kind of see this chapter as the start of everything and everything precluding as a very long prologue even though they are heavy with foreshadowing (you may not have picked it up but there is a secret that Ella and Joe don't know, but when they find out everything will make a lot more sense). But yeah, this is where it really starts to kick off. Thank you for reading this - hopefully you'll continue to read on. Why not write a review about it and say what you think will happen after this. I'd love to hear what you think of this so far. So yeah, thanks, bye! :)_**


	24. Chapter 24 - Joe

**Chapter 24 – Joe**

 _9:03pm_

I sat at my allocated spot in the boardroom on the large table, sipping what felt like my thousandth coffee of the day. I love coffee. After I dropped Ella off at the train station I waited for at least fifteen minutes, praying she missed her train and would come back out and start talking to me again. She's very odd in the way she acts, but it was like she was happy for once and she able to speak without blocking herself off. That was the issue; we never had a proper conversation and we had so much being forced upon us with the entirety of Maui wanting us to work together, despite us never really talking. I had sent a text to Ella about a month after the party, but she never replied to me. I felt incredibly bad that we couldn't get to know each other before the interview, and Ella was definitely holding back from something. She could lie. Hell, she could lie fluently but she was starting to lose the ability to look like she was made from stone in front of me. I could tell she was holding back something big but what I didn't know. But it was putting a lot of pressure on her, causing her to act in the way she did at the train station – even though I did feel like I was being led on a bit. I wonder what she was hiding from me, but it was to do with that secret that she couldn't tell me.

Oh God, no wonder why the Benedict's were known as a tricky family to understand.

'How are you still drinking coffee?' Quinn asked to me, as he was sitting on the left of me. I looked over and he was just frowning at me in part amazement and part confusion.

'You can never have enough coffee.'

'You really can, Joe, and you hit that point about three or half three this afternoon... when you came back with Starbucks.' Jake quipped on the right side of me, writing stuff down on a pad of paper.

'Well, it's the thirteenth hour since I've come at work. I'm used to maybe five or six hours, maybe. Coffee good.' I said as both of my brothers tut.

'You're worse than Randy,' Quinn said before tilting his head. 'Apart from his weakness isn't coffee, likes yours is, its alcohol.'

'Southern Comforts, and then Gin and Tonic.' Jake said.

'How precise.' I joked. 'So why are we here?'

'Code black threat, we've been called in to see if it's worth the investigation.'

'Couldn't it wait until morning?' I mumbled, almost sulking.

'Well you wouldn't be able to sleep with the amount of bloody coffee you've had?' Quinn laughed and I nodded. Probably not. 'No, if you made an allegation like she just has to her brother, and her brother believed it, I'd definitely say it's worth the late night investigation potential.' I rethought through what he said, and the female pronouns and "her brother" gave away the game.

'Ella?' I asked, and he nodded.

'Is that why the helicopter was deployed about twenty minutes ago?'

'Yeah, it was. She telepathically contacted Michael and he deployed it straight away. He's gone with the helicopter so we have no idea what she's said, he just said get it ready for when they're back. Which will be any second now. It's been a long day for Ella, bless her.' Jake said, as we heard the faint sound of a helicopter overhead.

Only Maui aircrafts can enter the airspace around the base, so it had to be Ella. God, I feel so sorry for her – nine hour flight, an hour helicopter ride, a two mile obstacle run, an hour train back, before getting a helicopter back in all which throwing up. She was something special that was for sure. The board room was in the hall left to the main headquarters, under the main helipad. The ceiling was at least three floors high and had enough tables to hold about twenty eight people. More chairs were brought in and about fifty of us sat in this small room. It was a black – on – burgundy and white theme – with the walls painted black as the monitors were turned off. Normally the longest wall doubled as a massive monitor during the missions. A large whiteboard, similar to ones found in schools, was on the right left open.

Thud – the helicopter overhead land on the room and we heard the quiet noise as the propellers shuddered to a stop. The room fell silent, and a few minutes later the door into the room opened. Ella walked in, with her backpack still on her back. She stopped dead in the doorway hesitating slightly shocked to see everyone had turned up and was now staring at her. Why was she still carrying around that heavy backpack? Her train was over six hours ago! Her mouth dropped slightly before she curled into herself, slightly shy by the attention.

But I stopped and thought of the conversation I had on the phone with Jason only a few hours previous. Between Jason and I, Jason was always the one to pull all of the ladies in night clubs, or the girls at the parties we went too as teenagers so he was my first port of call when I was just too baffled about Ella's behaviour. I couldn't tell Jake – he would be on Ella's side over mine – and not to mention if word got out about that night we spent together. After waiting outside the train station in my naivety, I started to walk the three mile walk back. I could have taken the bus, but I didn't like public transport. I had only got Ella to take the bus with me because she was ill and kept going dizzy and lightheaded – it was safer for her. But now she was gone, and I was back walking to myself. So I pulled out my phone from my back pocket, dialling Jason's number.

'I thought you were working?' He said, picking up after the third ring.

'I am.'

'You're currently outside – I can hear car and even bird. You're never outside.'

'Need help?'

'Mental help? I knew you'd cave. I mean the local free mental health service is Talking Therapi –'

'No, Not mental help... girl help.' I said, and Jason was deadly silent on the receiving side of the phone. I closed my eyes, slightly amused by how baffled he was. He went to start a sentence three times, but every time never actually said anything.

'Oh yeah? I bet this is about Ella, isn't it?' He ended up saying.

'Yeah –' I said, and had to explain to him everything that had happened – including after the drunken party and waking up in her room, to the kiss at the train station. He was patient and listened to the whole thing but I felt bad for wasting his time.

'Want to know my honest opinion?' Jason said as I finished explaining it as I hit the residential streets.

'Yeah,'

'Okay just double checking – she can't be your Soulfinder?' Jason asked, and I shook my head before realising he couldn't see it.

'The dates are about seven weeks apart, maybe even two months. You know how Soulfinder's work – it's normally within a few days of each other. Two months is impossible.' I told him, and he breathed heavily for a second.

'Not overly – I mean, you were quite late wasn't you?' Jason asked.

'Yeah, I was born a few weeks late, that would put off the date a bit but not two months.' I said and he tutted as I didn't get it.

'Yeah, but what if Ella was a few weeks early. Like, you were a lazy baby and was three and a half weeks late, if Ella was premature even by over the two week periods it would make that age gap so extreme.'

'It's too much of a coincidence – and also we're not overly suited. I mean, we knew Leannah and Jake were good to go from the second we saw them together, it's not like that with us.' I said, and heard Jason's weird noise as he agreed.

'Yeah – so I think you should just ignore her from now on in.'

'Really? Why?' I asked.

'Well, she's only ever going to come to England only a few times a year, and if she's going to come over here and one of you will be responsible for each time for getting your naughty on – I dunno who's more accountable – so one of you is probably using each other. You need to be the bigger person and stop that cycle.' Jason explained.

So as I watched Ella walk into the room a bit further and sitting on the left side of the pair of empty chairs opposite me but up a bit further, hunching over herself, I tried to make my feelings for her completely disappear, or at least make sure she wasn't the full centre of my attention. Jason was right; there was little to no chance of Ella moving back over here without a very good reason, so I could only see her three to four times a year at the absolute maximum, so keeping up with this pathetic crush on her was stupid. The room was silent for a second, as Michael sat down next to her dumping her backpack on the floor, her suitcase against the wall behind her, and the room started to speak up again. One of us was using the other. The bottle of Dr. Pepper I had on the table had started to shake as I thought of that, annoyed at the potential that Ella never actually liked me but used me for one night because she could. I was certain she was not like that, down to my gut that she would never do such a thing and she would never do it on purpose either, but I had to try and convince my mind. And it worked, as the bottle started to shake, causing Quinn to quickly bolt forward and grab the bottle, placing it on the floor next to my feet.

'What the Hell?' Quinn whispered sharply to me and I raised an eyebrow.

'You need to work on your control,' Jake simply said.

'My control is fine –'

'Quite clearly not – what the Hell had happened to you and Ella when we asked you to take her to the train station. She wasn't well at all, you had one job. Please say you didn't mess that one job up,' Jake asked me and I shook my head.

'Nothing happened, I took her there, dropped her off and came back. Look at the times I clocked in and out of base – it's the correct amount of time. Nothing happened,'

'So why are you looking at her like you want to stab her, and more importantly why did you want to chuck your bottle of drink at here telekinetically the second she sits down?' Quinn hissed, obviously pissed off. 'We should get Mum to book him in for his appointment, do him the world of good.' Quinn said to Jake, and he nodded in agreement.

The "appointment" they were referring too was a Savant therapist who works on teaching control on gifts. All my brothers, and Carly, struggled to keep their gifts hidden and have full control until one session with this wonderman and suddenly they were shining achievements of the Savant community. However, when it came to my appointment I bunked it or pretended I was ill. What? I don't like people snooping around my brain and telling me why I'm dysfunctional.

'Nah, I'm alright thanks.' I replied back, and Quinn rolled this eyes. As he did this, Susan came in through the first floor entrance in another suit – this one dark brown. The room hushed entirely as we watched the woman walk professionally down the stairs holding a large ring binder in her arm. She got down the bottom, nodding to us all collectively before sitting at the head of the table.

'Thank you all for being able to come here tonight, as we've had a code black report comes in from the inside,' Susan simply said. The room reacted differently; some people gasped, the others murmured among themselves, and Jake and Quinn shared a look. However, I looked directly up to Ella, who hunched over slightly and played anxiously with the sleeves of her jumper. Well, my jumper. But I knew how serious this was. "Code Black" was the term we used when something highly secretive could end up with the loss of life of over 200 civilians. Since Maui has been established, there has only been three "Code Blacks", all of which have been averted before anything serious has happened. But it was the "come in from the inside" that got to me – someone who works for Maui must have flagged it up. And my best guess was it was the dwindle blonde in my jumper over there, who had again lost all coloured as she teared up for a second.

'Quieten down,' Susan said, and the room fell silent. 'Ella, can you tell us more about what you saw, my dear girl?' and everyone turned their attention to her.

'Er, yeah,' She said quietly, but just loud enough so everyone could here. 'It was just a normal plane heading over the suburbs of New York, just full of innocent people. Businessmen, families going away for the summer or going back home. Quite a few kids. One of the toilet cubicles filled up with acrid smoke, and it started to leak out of the door. And it just... exploded midair, the shrapnel falling down onto the area of New York marked out by the weird marks – it was the thing the media focused on. The middle school was completely flattened, apart from three consecutive pillars which had the markings on.'

'So you think it's all linked?' Susan asked gently as Michael put his arm around the back of her chair.

'It has to be.'

'What about the markings in Heathrow?'

'The flight must be departing from departure hall 2A, in thirty days about twenty two hours from now – but I don't know if that is the time it's departing or it's being, you know, blown up.' Ella joked hollowly before biting her lip. I frowned slightly.

'Okay, so we need a plan,' Susan said. 'Ella, the bomb was internal right?'

'Yeah, from the toilet in economy.' She said.

'Ella, I'm afraid we're going to have to keep you close by for the next thirty days so you can tell us exactly what's going to happen – is your gift telling the future?' Cassian asked. Cassian was about a fourty three year old man the assistant boss of the plate. He was respected, but not as much as Susan. He tried to regain his control on the group by tightening all strings he could access, and obviously found grounding Ella was the way to do it. She shook her head.

'No, but...'

'So you could just be lying to us? Why should we trust you?' Cassian dug at her as she flinched away slightly.

'No, I trust Ella with my life. She put my brothers murderer behind bars when she was just twelve, Cassian, Ella has wonderful strong powers which means she can take people's gifts, she is probably just borrowing someone's gift who can tell the future.'

'It's not very, you know, certain.' Cassian argued back.

'So you're saying just leave this Code Black just because it's not very, you know, certain?' Susan argued back, mimicking Cassian on the latter.

'If she can provide us with some more proof than just a vision of someone else's gift, then we won't ignore it.' Cassian practically shouted back.

'Oi,' Michael quipped back, obviously not happy with the tone Cassian was using with his younger sister, 'Her word is good.'

'You're only saying that cause –' Cassian went to yell at Michael across the room, but Michael just raised his eyebrow. Jake told me it was a complete secret about Ella and Michael being related, as it was a risk to their security and mentioning it in front of people of a lower rank than mangers could end up with the being sacked. Which Michael knew, and which is why Cassian stopped.

'Because of what?' Michael coaxed him on.

'Ma'am!' Susan's assistant, a chubby bloke who was around the height of six foot four with a greasy comb over and ill fitting shirt, the buttons willowing as his fat bulged the open, came running into the room and down the stairs holding a telephone. As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he came waddling over to the table.

'Yes, what is it? I told you not too never come into this room unless it's urgent, Torries, what is it?' Susan said, rubbing her eyebrows as he waved the phone in front of her face. 'Yes, a telephone, Torries.' Susan muttered fed up as he slammed it down onto the speaker system by the top end of the table, pressing the buttons.

Nine "beeps" for the Greenwich time signal welcomed the signal the message on the phone, before it was silent on the other end of the phone apart from the sound of water resistant fabric rustling and the faint sound of breathing. A beep, and the whistle of a phone notification. Did someone manage to butt-dial the phone number of the boss of a secret service? I mean that was talented. But the breathing was heavy, like it was next to the speaker on the phone.

'If you continue to investigate the Code Black threat,' the voice said, but it was automated. Like someone had typed it into a translator device, 'not only will your Maui collapse, but Ella Benedict, Joe Matthews and Annie Kallowaiski will be shot by our sniper. Nice try, but not good enough.' And the message ended as everyone started to look between Ella and myself, and a tall Swedish girl, Annie, who sat at the base of the table, who was in her late twenties, sat forward in her chair. Susan looked between us all, ghostly white as the room was dead silent. I could feel the guilty looks of both brothers, looking at me in absolute horror as the death threat against me laid heavy in the air.

'Get them all to safe houses,' Susan said, getting out of her chair.


	25. Chapter 25 - Joe

**Chapter 25 – Joe**

 _2:08pm the next day._

'Helicopter RI302 ready for departure, over.' The helicopter pilot asked the Maui base, waiting for the response from the air control, and sure enough about fifteen seconds later we were cleared for takeoff.

I looked at the time on the digital display above the door. We were only taking up one minute late, but that minute felt like a century but I smiled as I enjoyed the freedom. Since the phone call last night, both Ella and I were locked into the nuclear bunker under the gym, on opposite sides so we couldn't even talk to each other. Not that we would need too, as we'd be spending the foreseeable future with each other down at the safe house. Annie was suppose to join us, but thankfully for her they found a safe house within Sweden, her brother's new flat that was completely uncharted so she was fine to go over there. She flew out only an hour and a half after that phone call, leaving just Ella and I with no where to go. There were discussions of sending me to an extended relative but was promptly shot down when all my family were found in the visible Net. Ella had the same issues, the only place safe for her would be her brother's flat in Denver and that brother was in the FBI. She would be in just as much danger over there as she is here. So they had to find us a safe house for the twenty nine days, and a few days after for it to blow over. They said they would work on it when we were gone but they cannot guarantee they'd be safe now as Ella was their key. They were effectively dumping us two somewhere in the middle of nowhere so we couldn't help with the efforts.

I couldn't sit on my ass for thirty days until a plane gets blown up, though. And I know full well Ella will be trying to escape the second her helicopter lands to help. She's a multitude of things, including someone who could be using me in the blunt words of Jason, but the last thing she'd do is watch a plane full of innocents get blown up.

'Joe, you need to listen to us now,' Jake shouted against the noise of the helicopter blades. I turned my gaze to him. I was sitting cross legged on the medical bench on the right side of the helicopter, whilst Jake and Quinn who are coming to accompany me down to the safe house. Based on the way the helicopter was going, we would be heading down to the South West. I knew where we were going was still in the UK, but that was about it.

'Yeah,' I replied back.

'Quite a few things you have to memorise.' Jake said, and I nodded. 'The most important is for your safety is that no one will know where you are being kept. Once you are off this plane, our memories regarding the location will be wiped and we'll be knocked unconscious until we're off the helicopter. The pilots will never remember this flight. All tracking devices on the helicopter are off, and the location is not even mentioned in any databases on site. The place you are going is a holiday home that is all we know.'

'Okay, right. So you'll have no idea of where I am at any second.'

'Correct.' Jake said.

'So we need you to wear these little black boxes. You put it on the hem of your boxers; Ella has hers on her bra. They will transmit the data to Norway, then Norway back down to base on your life statistics. So it'll tell us the vitals of your heart rate and temperature and we can see if you're still alive. There will obviously be silent periods where you don't wear it but just humour us and put it on for like an hour a day so we know you're not dead.' Quinn shouted but I only heard him through the headphones for the helicopter controls as appose to normal sound. The helicopter blades were strangely loud.

'Got it,'

'Okay, you and Ella will be sharing everything for the next month and a half – we know you like her so there is no issue for you. This is your new bank card. In the bottom of Ella's bag there is a machine that you'll have to use to set the PIN on the card which you'll use in shops to buy crap. The account is unlimited, so splash out but not too much. Don't be so bloody obvious to any passersby – don't go shopping for like Fred Perry shirts, go into Primark.'

'Right, don't be a big spender, wear the menacing black box you just shoved in my bag for me, no one knows where we are.' I repeated, as Jake did up the zip on my bag after placing the black device on my shirt in the top of the bag. 'What's in the travellers backpack, may I ask?'

'It's just what you need for a week's trip; you need to get more stuff down there obviously. You've got clothes, toiletries, a brand new laptop which hasn't been set up and same goes for the phone. Anything personal to you has been gone and is now locked away in the Nuclear Bunker in Maui. We don't need you calling us to say you're okay because that's the dumbest thing you could do when you've got death threats over you. The phone is just to keep you and Ella in touch if you lose each other when you're out. Mentioning that, any form of telepathy is banned. No talking to us and no talking to her like that either. We don't know where the person, or people, are who made that threat of if they can hear telepathy so you have to be careful,' Quinn said and Jake was on the helicopters tablet sorting out some more paperwork.

'Got it.' I said, and probably should be making notes on this as the rant still continued as we flew over the Bristol Channel. So we're not going to Wales, then. It more looked like the location would be Devon or Cornwall, on the north coast. Lovely and scenic.

'What else?' Jake asked, and Quinn shrugged.

'Don't piss Ella off,' Jake said, pointing the stylus at me and I smiled smugly back. 'I mean it. She's gone through a lot and I don't want another month with my idiotic kid brother to be another struggle for her.'

'You like her a lot more than you like me,' I said hollowly.

'Joe, Ella is currently in the helicopter in front of us alone, getting briefed by a guy she's never met before. No family to send her off. Michael had to stay to make sure we could get down here safely. That's right, the girl who is an anxious wreck, twenty times worse than you are feeling right now, is in that helicopter alone, and when we offered to go with her she point blank refused and told us to both go with you so, if something was to happen to you, at least we can have our family goodbyes down there. She cares more about us lot saying goodbye to you, then she does about herself. So currently, I am leaning towards the girl crying alone in that helicopter compared to you sitting here claiming moral high ground.' Jake snapped and I raised my eyebrow.

Ella would rather go through pain both mentally and physically so I could say goodbye to my brothers when we touched down. Bless her.

'Sorry,' I murmured.

'So be nice to Ella is on the top of your list. We know what you are like – you are quick to accuse people without thinking and you don't want to do that to Ella. Play fair, you're each other's best friends for the next month.' Quinn told me as Jake went back to tapping the screen.

'Okay, how will we know where we are?'

'Ask Ella sweetly, her main gift is being able to project. Give her ten minutes to give the place a good snoop around and you'll be sold,' Jake said.

About twenty minutes later of lectures and rapid-fire instructions the helicopters had started circling the location where I guessed the safe house was. "Safe" was probably included in the title as it was the only thing noticeable for miles around. A small bungalow sat on the cliff tops, overlooking a small and private beach about half a kilometre wide. Waves lapped at the untouched and unruined natural beach, the only way to get up the cliffs were some cheap wooden stairs. Set in the middle of fields, there was only a dirt track leading down the road. From up here in the helicopter, you could see where the dirt path met a narrow asphalt road, and it was still a good few miles down the road that the asphalt road turned into a main road – and even that was empty. We would be in the middle of nowhere for just over a month with a girl I was falling in love with who doesn't know anything much about me. Great. Commands flew across the helicopter headphones from the cockpit fast as the helicopter that travelled in front of us – taking Ella alone down to the safe house – started it's land on the cliff top to drop her off. We only had about ten more minutes left.

'Joe, from Michael, he asked if you can do him a favour and make sure his sister stays safe.' Jake asked quietly, getting up and opening the door. The small department we sat in filled with the freezing breeze.

'Stay safe how?'

'Make sure she doesn't get cold too often, and she doesn't seem depressed or anxious. Just make sure you don't seem like a threat to her and you should be fine. We all don't care how you do that – be her best friend or sleep with her, we don't care, as long as you are both safe and well by the end of this.' Jake explained, and I nodded.

'I'll go for the best friend approach,'

'Yeah, maybe not the latter approach Jake crudely suggested,' Quinn joked back and Jake grinned at him. The helicopter who had just dropped Ella down enough to jump out safely was now back up into the air, doing a U-turn in the air and flying back in land and back to base. From my side of the helicopter, I could only just see the ant-sized dot of Ella, and the ant-sized dot of her travellers back pack similar to mine walking towards the bungalow. A few seconds later, our helicopter followed the same route down to the cliff top when Ella was out of the cross wind zone. Jake, Quinn and my time together was coming to a close, and as I stood up, both brothers took a second to hug me. As we're not really a sentimental family, I knew this meant that they both thought I was in serious trouble. And I guess we were.

'We're clear for landing,' The pilot said, as we were now only four foot from touching the cliff top. I guessed we hugged for a bit longer than I thought.

'Do you remember everything we said?' Quinn yelled at me as I took off my headphones. Despite the volume of his speech, I could barely hear him over the propeller blades and the noise they made. I nodded in reply.

'We have to take off again now,' Jake told Quinn (I could only pick up what he said from lip reading him) and both brothers hugged me jointly again.

'Stay safe, little bro.' Quinn said before walking to the back of the helicopter. He was never good at saying goodbye, and I knew whilst it seemed rude it was better for him to be back there and not see me leave as he would only feel shit about it. Jake took his turn to hug me.

'Yeah, stay safe. I don't want to tell your two nieces that you died, alright?' Jake said in my ear.

'That's the only reason? Nice,' I joked and he hit me in my arm.

'Course not, wouldn't want to tell Ella either.' He joked back and I rolled my eyes. 'But seriously, stay safe. I'll see you safe and well in a month.' Jake said as he chucked my backpack on the grass as I jumped out, watching the door close behind me. Seconds later, the helicopter was gaining altitude before doing the safe U-turn and heading back to base leaving me stranded with Ella in an unknown place for God knows how long.

What's the _worst_ that can happen?


	26. Chapter 26 - Joe

**Chapter 26 – Joe**

The walk to the house was a long one; all up twisting coastline and unmanned fields of wild flowers. From the air, it looked flat terrain, but you had to deal with no path, brambles, growing grass that knotted around your ankles constantly and loud as shit seagulls that won't shut up, as well as a backpack full of random crap. It took me around 15 minutes of walking to make it a few hundred meters to reach the safe house. I say safe 'house'.

It was more of a bungalow. Built originally from slate, half of the house had been plastered over with brick. Large windows surrounded the house, giving views of not only the private beach, but also of the countryside – a sight rarely seen in Windsor. A small, single road led from the bungalow for at least ten miles, before joining a small B-road, heading towards whatever the nearest town was. The brown-tiled roof and the thin picket fence around the garden made this seem an ideal place for a small family, on a holiday away, if it wasn't for the completely remote location. I mean, I understand people say that when they're looking for a holiday destination. You can just hear it, can't you? "Oh, we're looking for someone remote and quiet, for the kids obviously, and some adult time to relax", but they're on about a little village a few miles from attractions. This was a singular home miles away from the next living thing that wasn't a seagull.

I walked around, readjusting the backpack so it didn't give me a dead shoulder. In the driveway was a dark blue Peugeot 307 with a 2001 number plate, but looked new. Four doors and washed, shining in the bright summers light. The only good thing about the location was it's a lot cooler by the coast than it is in the middle of England. Small rows of plants sat in Cornish slate planters down one side of the driveway, with a seamlessly empty greenhouse next to the garage. Mailbox empty, and with no road or door number, this place was very isolated from everything. I couldn't help but smile at the white 'Home sweet Home' plate on the door, which was left half-opened. I guessed Ella had already reached the house before I did and unlocked it. How kind of her to leave the door open for me, I thought sarcastically. My brain couldn't decide if we liked her, or hated her. I thought it was always the girls in romance books that couldn't decide what their hormones were doing.

The corridor was painted a subtle light cream, with pictures and photos of the local area on canvases, proudly hung by the previous house owner on the wall. Despite the light hallway, the area by the door was quite dark as no sunlight could get to it. A small, thatched stand sat in the corner, with a bowl of sea stones, and a few leaflets on where is good to eat out, and the local tourist attractions and how many miles they were away from here. I could see one labelled 'THE BIG SHEEP' which was a forty five minute drive away at the very minimum. The corridor was more of an L shape, with me entering at the bottom of the L. I could only see two doors – both opened- on to the left and one straight ahead. I walked slowly down the corridor, and found that the first room was a double bedroom, with three birch wardrobes, two side tables with lamps, and a large soft blue chair, net curtains surrounding the windows, with black-out curtains on top of that. The other room was more of a lounge – a large three seater sofa, with three armchairs at various angles, surrounded the TV in one corner. A traditional fireplace sat to one side, with bookcases piled high with books. I threw my bag telekinetically over to the furthest armchair, hearing the dull thud as it hit the chair and examined the content of books. It ranged from the classics to the shitly written Fifty Shades of Grey. I picked up another book, dog-earred and off colour, and read the blurb.

'I didn't know you're into reading,' I heard Ella say, who had appeared around the corner in the far left of the room holding a mug. She smiled slightly, hair brushed back from her face as she took a sip of the warm beverage in her hand.

'Something to do, I guess,'

'I thought you'd, like, kick puppies and flush toddler's fishes down the toilet,' she said and I laughed at her reply knowing it was meant as a joke.

She smiled again at me warmly, taking another sip of her drink before walking over to the settee and sitting crossed legged. For some reason, my brain had decided she wasn't using me for a few kisses when she decided it was good and she was in fact just as confused as to what was happening between us two as I was. But this was the most normal I've seen Ella, and I just had to look at her. She seemed small, but normal. Hell, she looked adorably cute as she surveyed the area, smiling slightly. In fact, I didn't want to punch her in the face for confusing me. I was perfectly content just to sit here for a while.

'Oh, you don't want to punch me. You're making progress,' She commented, and I shrugged hoping that was the only thing she had overheard.

'Well, I am on strict warnings not to kill you.' I simply said, and she nodded.

'I got similar warnings as well. It's not too bad this place though. Could have been worse. A lot worse, and it could have been in a worse location,' she sighed, smiling gently as she looked out the window across the cliffs and onto the beach view.

'I've never been to a beach,' I owned up, and she rolled her eyes dramatically.

'Cupcake, you've had one hell of a deprived childhood.'

'I swear you live in the mountains – what the hell are you doing on beaches so frequently then?' I sat on the other end of the settee looking out across the view. I could see why she hadn't taken her eyes off it yet. It was absolutely stunning and picturesque – something that would be printed on postcards if it wasn't for its benign and secluded location. The waves lapped pathetically out at sea. I looked between the scenery and Ella, where she had tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her eyes solely focused on the sea.

'I lived in England before the crash, remember? I come back here frequently, with the family and Michael. Besides, I hate all other holidays – you know the tanning and the shopping. I mainly come down to surf. If you can ski or snowboard in the mountain, chances are you can surf at a beach. I can do both,' She explained, putting down her hot chocolate on the small table by the settee arm.

'I can't do either – you going to make a plan to drown me?' I joked, but she shook her head. She seemed in a sober mood, and not in the mood for joking.

'Nope. I could teach you how to surf if we get bored trying to stop a terrorist attack from the middle of Cornwall though.' She said.

'I'd like that,' I mumbled.

She turned around, examining me, biting her lip and frowning. She looked me up and down for a second, trying to figure something out. I couldn't help but for a second realize how attractive she is. I quickly tried to banish that thought, but it just kept lingering. Her eyes were something else – a weird green grey colour and looked like it reflected everything, but was still strangely attractive. A handful of freckles had been sprinkles across her face, darkening in the summer sun. I smiled at her unconsciously. She had finally met my eyes, taking another sip of her hot chocolate she had picked up again, her eyebrow raising as she did. She settled something with herself internally, nodding almost in perceivably to herself before jumping up, placing her mug down on a coaster on the frosted glass table.

'So, I'm just going to find out where the Hell we are, and make sure my brother is alright doing all the phone calls to my parents and other brothers back at Maui,' she said, quickly taking off the white shirt with a black Coca-Cola logo printed on the front, revealing a black camisole shirt with black button going from the neck hem down the centre and by the sternum, which revealed a small purple birthmark on the top of right arm in a small X shape. It took a lot of self control to avoid the temptation to look at her chest which had suddenly become on show. She pulled up her bra strap where it had slid down when she took off her shirt. I am a strong, independent man. 'If I'm not out in, let's say, twenty minutes, make sure I haven't died of hypothermia,' she joked, pivoting on her heels to walk to her bedroom I guessed.

'Wait, Ella,' I added just as she turned the corner. She stepped back, holding her weight on the left heel as she frowned at me. 'Can you make sure my brothers are back safe as well?' She considered me for a second before just nodding.

'Yeah, alright.' She quietly answered before walking down the unknown corridor. A few seconds later, I heard the door slam behind her.

I frowned already lost without her direction before deciding to look around the rest of the house and figure out how to navigate myself around my new house for the next month or so. The lounge had an on joining dining room, directly in front of the seat on the sofa Ella was on, and the armchair and behind the TV, tucked away behind the fire place. The dining room with six chairs seated around a wooden table. In the middle of the table was a pack of drawing paper, and coloured chunky crayons for the children who visited here, a weird modern chandelier above it with weights controlling the strings. A sliding white door led through to an old-fashioned kitchen, with the stone granite tops whipped down. The cooker was recently fitted, with a hob, grill and oven all fully working one could assume. The cupboards had been whipped empty, with only a few white mugs and glasses in one, matching plates of various sizes in another one but seemed quite high up. The bare essentials for the night had been laid out, a loaf of fresh bread on the side, and various dairy products in the fridge – alongside a little tray of scones and a dinky pot of jam and cream. A small, handwritten note read 'Enjoy your holiday!' with a smiley face. The small, square utility room leading on from the kitchen contained a washing machine, with the detergent on top. The kitchens lead back onto the longer corridor. The door opposite was open, leading to a kid's bedroom.

Two single beds laid adjacent, with small teddy bears on both. I couldn't help but smiling, picking up the sense of the kids yet to visit this holiday house, waking up excited and running through the kitchen, bare foot, to find their parents. I frowned, wondering how this part of my gift was unlocked. I could change people's thinking processes, that were the main element, but I could also pick up on the future thinking processes if I was around my entire family. Effectively, I could see the future based on the pathways of peoples thoughts. Yeah, wordy and confusing I know – but I could only ever do that when I was at a family event and there were loads of Savants around me that I would drain energy from. I could only assume it was the fear that meant I could do it now, I thought, as I saw kids laughing and playing. Inside, I couldn't wait to be a Dad, even though all my brothers, my sister and my parents said I was too irresponsible and would be 'the past person I'd expect to be a good Father.' That was until the twins were born and they realised I wasn't as hopeless as they first thought.

But I always knew I wanted kids – and I wouldn't cock it up. I closed the door, leaving the maternal thoughts in the room. The next door along was the bathroom. A toilet next to a sink, with a walk in shower and a bath in the corner, with new scented candles along the side. Handy. I stripped off my clothes and turned the power shower on. I was taller than Ella – a lot taller. Whilst she was barely scrapping five foot, I was above the six foot. I sighed, trying not to think of her too much, whilst I walked into the shower.

Fifteen minutes later, I emerged from the shower, quickly towel-drying my hair and throwing on the same pair of jeans I had on earlier today.

'Ella?' I called into the bungalow, waiting for a response. Only the silence echoed back. I turned to my right, and found a closed door. I knocked on it gently, putting my shirt in the laundry basket in the door of the bathroom.

The bedroom Ella was in was a large double as well, looking out across the sea. With pretty much the same set up as the first bedroom, but lighter. The walls were painted a white, with light blue curls at the bottom of the walls. A small chest of draws, the white wash fading on it, was sat in the corner, had a small dog-eared photo on, and I couldn't help but walk over and look at it.

A faded photo from around 19 years ago of Ella's family. Her parents were standing, her Dad's arm around her waist. My jaw dropped. Both Ella and her brother, Michael, looked identical to their parents, it was uncanny. 7 children were around them, the oldest being around 12 and going through the awkward stage, not smiling. The youngest two caught my eyes. A young boy sat on the floor, looking at the camera confused, whilst a little toddler with a blonde bob smiling a large smile at the camera. I couldn't help but smile back at the photo. It was so nice, and made Ella and Michael seem a bit more 3D. Across the bedroom were some clothes and a few boxes on the chair where I guess Ella had started to unpack, finding this picture and setting it beside her before checking back on our brothers.

When she was asleep, she looked peaceful and almost Saint-like. I had to make sure she was breathing, as she was barely moving. I sat down next to her on the bed, gently tucking a loose strange of hair behind her ear, and pulling up her bra strap which had fallen down again. But, it was only when I put my hand on her arm did I realise how cold she was. No, she wasn't just cold, she was freezing.

'Ella?' I asked, trying not to panic, but when she didn't respond, and her breathing was only shallow, it clicked something bad was up.

'Ella, come on wake up. Ella!'

Now, I'm not a walking thermometer, but I could tell she was at least two degree's under the normal body temperature.

Without thinking about it much, I picked her up in my arms and carried her to the sofa in the lounge, and quickly mind-moved the duvet behind me. I sat down beside her, my arm around her waist, the blanket neck-height on the both of us. I hugged her to my side tightly, not willing to let her go back to a realm of danger. She started to stir a bit more as time went by and about ten minutes after I found her, she mumbled something. I made a slight noise, not hearing what she said the first time around.

'What's wrong?' She murmured gently, leaning into me a bit more.

'You're very, very cold and you weren't waking up,'

'Oh yeah, that's normal. I did warn you.'

'How did you warn me?!' I practically yelled at her, but held my arm around her waist a bit tighter as she flinched at my tone and the volume of the speech. I felt immediately bad – I wasn't yelling at her as a punishment or whatever, it just scared me. If I stopped and thought about it for a second I would have put two and two together and realise she was only cold because of the side effect of using her gift.

'I said check up on me if I wasn't up in twenty minutes,' She mumbled. 'Why are you damp and where is your shirt?' She said as she started to regain more consciousness.

'I just had a shower, I thought you were like... dead.' I mumbled, my head resting on the crown of her head as I looked out across the sea view and the only word to describe what I was feeling was content. That was bizarre. Normal people would be afraid, terrified. But I felt almost at home with Ella leaning in against me down by the coast in the middle of nowhere – just me and her.

'I'll be fine,' she mumbled after a while to think, leaning into me a bit further, rotating herself slightly beside so she could look out across the view from the window whilst still sitting comfortably in my arm. She was still freezing cold, the blanket pulled up to her neck, her hand resting on my thigh but she had a small smile on her face. I guessed that if we continued this way with no massive arguments, almost like we were starting a new slate together since coming down here and forgetting the party and forgetting the whole train station incident, we could start a fresh and there's a chance something might happen between us. I just had to forget Jason telling me she could be using me and focus on the tiny freezing girl comfortably leaning in into my chest who was half asleep. I had a feeling there could be something about us, but the real question _was_ what was between us?


	27. Chapter 27 - Ella

**Chapter 27 – Ella**

 _Overlapped perspective with Chapter 26_

'Wait, Ella,' I heard Joe said the second I was around the corner of the doorway.

I hesitated slightly, wondering what he wanted this time so carefully I stepped back, awkwardly hovering on my heel poised to run if I was uncomfortable. Oh my God why was I reacting like this? I frowned at Joe, where he was sitting forward on the sofa. It was clear to anyone he was agitated and anxious about the situation - but who wouldn't be? There were death threats against us both from someone who much have been in that room as the news broke. I didn't mention it to anyone apart from Michael, and then in that room so someone who was in those fifty people made the threat or be associated with those who made the threat. So, of course, we had to get the flipping hell out of there. I was scared, yeah, but I was okay at hiding it well. Joe wasn't. He was absolutely terrified, he has just had to say goodbye to his two brothers only half an hour or so ago for what he thinks could be the last time. When I had to say my goodbyes to Michael back at base I was absolutely heartbroken and the second the door of the helicopter closed I full on cried when I was on my own, only forcing myself to stop when they were mentioning coming into land, knowing I could have an emotional release tonight when Joe went to bed and I was up in a house I don't know, in a location I don't know on my own in the early hours of the morning. Joe, however, was struggling to keep his emotion to himself and was therefore on the edge of the sofa, in confusion and in fear but at the same time there was a slight hint of appreciation – so either he loved the place we was in and was a massive fan of the interior design or...

'Can you make sure my brothers are back safe as well?' He asked me, and I looked at him intently. His eyes were brimming with concern as he said it to me. I frowned slightly at him and how close he was to his family without them being distinctly close when they were together. Joe clearly was a family man, who cared and cherished his family deeply and preferred to be with his family and Jason when he could. He was a very contradicting person, his looks and his personality not matching up. He looked like someone who would go around every weekend to a different party to hook up with one or two new people, and to hang out in a massive group of friends and was involved in those stupid Whatsapp conversations between forty off people. We all knew the type of person I was on about. But when you got to know him (or more like, research thoroughly one night when I couldn't sleep) he was dedicated to his family and the only friend he was incredibly close too was Jason. He was incredibly dedicated to those he was close with, and I wished I could be a part of that circle. I was so confused what I wanted from Joe, so it wasn't fair to have that conversation with him yet.

I realised I had been staring at him for a whole, so I quickly replied, 'Yeah, alright,' before quickly walking down the corridor, into my dedicated bedroom for the month. It was lovely and I had preferred it the second I walked into it; with two large open windows looking out across the sea where I could see some of the sand where the tide was going out. It lit the room up and was bright and just looked clean but cosy. I kicked the door closed behind me and it slammed. I flinched against the noise, before sinking down on the edge of the bed. How did I expect Joe to fall for me when I was a mess myself.

Trying to distract myself from the new torrent of incoherent and conflicting thoughts that acted as a torpedo in my brain, I grabbed the giant backpack they had sent out with me and started to unpack it. Forchunately for me, my suitcase and carry on bag were still at Maui headquarters and I brought the backpack that had my change of clothes and personal belongs with it back when Michael picked me up, so this backpack was filled with my own items. I opened the zip on the large top pocket, undoing the drawstring bag and had started to take out the items inside. A few vest tops and camisoles which went straight into one of my drawers, a few bras and underwear which went into a separate draw, and a pair of leggings. Okay, so far so good, I thought as I undid the other compartment. As a traveller backpack meant for hikers, the top pouch I had just unpacked was for plates and things they would need on the walk. The giant compartment now was for the main items of the hikers. I unzipped it, the zip struggling not to burst against the content that was overflowing.

It took five minutes of unpacking to get out all of my clothes that were folded nearly in here, and the laptop and phone they had given me, still untouched and in their boxes. It was only when I got down the bottom I noticed an envelope and I hesitated. Michael couldn't leave a note or something at the bottom of the bag; it was too dangerous for him and too dangerous for me and can be used as leverage if anything would happen. He was too smart to leave just a note. Shaking slightly and with a trembling lip I leant forward and picked up the envelope, pulling out the flap of the inner pocket and sliding out the aging poloroid photo that was inside. I frowned as I looked at the back, which just had the date written in neat print on the back. I quickly flipped it over, my head felt like it dropped as I looked at the family.

It was my family before the crash, before they all died. It was always easy to identify me – I was born over six weeks prematurely and had to remain in hospital when I was born for a while because my lungs weren't developed and I was just so small and fragile that there was a risk just holding me. I was also the seventh child, so I was the youngest and smallest in my family and it meant I could identify myself easily. I was clearly the young toddler on the floor, maybe eighteen months to two years with a blonde bob, grinning happily at the camera. Michael was beside me, about four years old with a similar smile to mine plastered on his face. Our other brothers and sisters, most of them only just ringing bells in my memory, had various different grins on their face. My parents were wrapped in each other's arms, smiling indulgently at the camera, me sitting on my Mum's foot. I bit my lip to stop the tears.

It was amazing how one mistake nearly fifteen years ago has led to the events that are in the present now.

As I stared at the photo in tears, I realise the photo was a very prominent warning from Michael for me not to cock it and behave myself down here. It seemed a bit of a far jump, but Michael especially in the way he acted was very strategically and he wouldn't've just dumped a photo in an envelope in the bottom of my rucksack for no reason. He placed it in here knowing it would make me upset and it would remind me to be sensible – like seeing pictures and videos of my family had always done. Mum and Dad worked in a similar organisation to Maui that was shut down after their deaths, and they believe the reason that the break leads to the car were messed around with, which meant when the "staged" lorry going up the motorway at eighty, my parents could break their cars and only skidded and the cars flipped, the front car getting hit by the lorry at force killing my four eldest brothers and sisters and my Dad instantly. The car Michael and I weren't hit by the lorry but we flipped, and came down on the central reservation – which killed Mum and Cameron, the next brother up from Michael – near enough instantly. It was very morbid, but they believe all this happened because they made one silly mistake and wasn't careful in their work by not properly encrypting a file and the criminal report, the criminals who the report was on managed to find out what information they had and had to kill them off.

So the photo was clearly Michael warning me to be safe and not to do anything dangerous down here. I might be the only person who would pick up from the subtle hints.

I heard the shower start up in the room next to mine and realised I was meant to be finding out where the bloody hell we are, apart from in the middle of nowhere, which it did seem like. I put the photo down on the bedside cabinet and climbed into the bed encased by comfort. Memory foam mattress with orthopaedic base, with thick duvets – how ideal! I pulled the duvet up around me, rolling over onto one side before shaking slightly. I always do it, for some reason. Whenever I go somewhere warm I start to shake as if my body wants to be cold. _I have to focus!_

I closed my eyes, and thought about the picture again. It was faded but in good condition, the ear slightly dog eared and the back of the photo paper was browning slightly. I could see the photo, looking down at it as my eyes narrowed into myself. I was so cute back then. I smiled slightly as I made my projection me spin around grinning. It was a brilliant way of travelling, you just felt so light and free. Next step, project around the house.

My gift worked similar to a remote control helicopter. If I just thought about going up in the sky, I would suddenly go up in the sky. Effectively, I was like a living ghost which is contradictory in it's own name. I opened my eyes in my projective state again where I was floating in the middle of the sky. Directly below me was the bungalow that Joe and I were staying in, and straight in front of me was the expanse of the Atlantic. The place we were staying at was literally on top of a private beach with stairs leading down from the patio pathway. It looked a good beach for surfing with good height waves and so on. But apart from that, we were in the middle of literally nowhere. For miles around the bungalow it was just country sides and fields, the only track leading this to the road was a small gravel track and even that took about six miles or so to join an asphalt road, then took another few miles to join the main road. I quickly projected myself to the T-junction at the end of the asphalt road and looked at the road sign. To the east of this direction, the nearest big town would be Widemouth bay and Bude town centre, which was where I used to go down to on holiday before the crash. If we head down East a bit more, Boscastle was only twelve or so miles away but was mainly a tourist location. The closest major shopping town would be Barnstaple or Truro. I frowned, remembering the longitudinal point and latitude point that the house was at and realised the only place between Boscastle and Widemouth bay was a national protection pare, with several little areas with names. From the location we were at and the distances between here and the two nearest points, I could only just assume we were around Dizzard, near Beeny Point. I nodded, knowing the only thing I need to do now was find out if Michael was doing okay, and if Jake and Quinn had arrived back. I closed my eyes before picturing me back at Michael's office on base and sure enough I felt a shift in my projection.

I opened my eyes again and sure enough, my projection ghost was in the middle of Michael's office. I frowned, knowing what I had to do but I knew the effect it would have on my body. I had to go quite a distance but then not only that I have to be careful because I had to use telekinesis to leave a note for Michael on the board. It was possible, I've done it before, but it causes my temperature to drop rapidly. I sat in the corner of the room, on the desk, as if waiting for Michael to come back in. Sure enough, as if he sensed me in the room. My brothers could all do that – if wasn't projection at a percentage, like I would if I was hiding, they could sense me and if they needed to see me as well. Michael came into the room texting on his phone and even I could tell that he was upset I was in danger. More importantly, he felt guilty. I could tell looking at the way he was hunched over and kept darting his eyes around. He invited me to England to take part in this investigation and on the same day my flight landed, I was heavily ill and then foresaw the plane bomb and then the next day deported to a safe house. He thought it was his fault.

'Michael, they are both down there and safe,' Jake said, walking into Michael's office and jumping up on the desk like he normally does. Quinn followed him and stood suspended in the door, leaning against the frame.

'How did Joe seem?' Michael asked, sitting down on the spiny chair in his office, opening a drawer in the desk and pulling out a box of Cocoa Shreddies, eating them straight out the box. People wondered why I was so weird, it was clearly genetic.

'Alright, very concerned at the end but okay.' Quinn said and Michael nodded. 'How did Ella do?'

'Not too good, she cried a bit.' He fessed up as I shot him the evils. I guessed I wasn't doing my gift enough so he couldn't see me. I was completely embarrassed he said that to Jake and Quinn.

'That's not like her, though.' Jake said, frowning. 'She seems a lot more emotional, really. Did anyone else notice that?'

'If we're going based on yesterday, I noticed. But she's only twenty one that that's quite a weird age, she wasn't very well to start with and she has a lot resting on her at the moment. I mean, she had only just got off the damn plane before a helicopter, then helicopter straight to a 2 mile obstacle course with paintballs all whilst she wasn't feeling good. Then we forced her to go home through public transport which no one likes, let alone someone with insecurities about not being in control at speed like she does, with our idiotic brother which probably didn't help before she witnessed a plane being blown up. Then she had to tell everyone against it and now has a death threat over her. I think she's allowed to be a bit emotional, Jake.' Quinn argued in my favour and I comically nodded at him. Good work there, Quinn.

'Also, hormones.' Jake quipped as Michael rolled his eyes, swallowing the mouthful of kid's cereal he had.

'Let's not discuss my sister's hormones, thanks, that would be appreciated.' Michael said, before throwing another square piece of cereal in a high arch and catching it in his mouth.

'No but she's on two different forms of contraceptive. Maui required the implant, whilst the FBI requires her on the pill – I mean she's not going to get pregnant but it's still incredibly high levels of oestrogen and FSH hormones which can affect mood.' Jake said and both of the others looked uncomfortable. I suppose Jake, who's now settled down and married and who has kids had lost the taboo that is discussing the other gender's reproductive prime.

'How do you even _know_ that?' Michael glared at him across the table. I had told Michael several times I just float between contraceptives depending on where I am going but never getting any basically meant it was just a security device to clear paper work but he still had _the talk_ every time I mentioned it.

'Because I asked out of curiosity, and she told me. Like last night when we were packing her bag I quietly went to ask her if she needed her pill and she said she doesn't anymore because of the implant and the pill is only required by the FBI so she was good. So as she goes off that it'll be a decrease in hormones so she'd be even more emotionally unstable so good luck to Joe – Michael you have your poltergeist back I see.' Jake joked, pointing to the floating board pen behind him, hovering against the whiteboard. I had got bored of the talk about me and had decided to leave the message I need too.

'Ella?' Michael asked, and I moved the pen against the board. My telekinetic handwriting was not overly good or neat. Would it even be handwriting? Brainwriting?

 _Yeah?_ I wrote on the board.

'Guess you're down safe?'

 _Of course we're down safe, Jake told you that about five minutes ago. I was there for that bit._ I wrote, feeling my temperature immediately drop but I had time left, the thick duvet would be buying me time. Not only that, I had asked Joe to wake me up if I wasn't back in twenty minutes, which would be before I would head into the red zone of my gift.

'See, she listens to me.' Jake joked.

 _You're the only one who makes any sense._

'You're not wrong there.' He smiled smugly, crossing his arms.

'Why are you here?'

 _I was making sure you were alright and Joe asked if his brothers made it back safe. I was just seeing where we are. Nice location, good weather._ I joked around, as Quinn wiped off the top lines of my writing giving me more space. It must look insane if someone walked in – two of the managers and a supervisor talking to no one in particular but the pen moving – and just the pen – writing responses back. But they were all used to it, they were the ones that helped me trial it out and perfect it down to a T.

'Don't say any more – we've just had our memories wiped. We have no idea where you are,'

 _We'll be fine._ I simply wrote, dropping the pen slightly. _But serious question, looking at the motherboard of the box you gave us to wear for heartrate and temperature, what's the signal hertz?_

'I have no idea – we were told they were untraceable by the engineers at base. Have a fiddle, see what you think and leave us a note before you do anything.' Michael said.

 _Okay, cool. Thanks for everything guys._ I wrote, dropping the pen to the floor and sitting back in my corner. All three of them thought I had completely disappeared as I carried on eavesdropping in their conversations – mainly and me, Joe, or the bomb. Or alternatively – Me, Joe AND the bomb.

'Ella?' I heard someone say, and it sounded like they said it from the far end of a road tunnel. Their voice was echoy and quiet, but it still demanded my attention. I waited a moment to see if I could hear any more or focus down the control, but the voice didn't happen again. I projected out of the room and into the swimming pool at the base, making my projection ghost sit at the edge of the pool looking out across the small ripples in the pool. Truth be told, the second I saw that we were place near a beach I was dying to go out for a swim but my anxiety held me back. I didn't want to make myself look like a tit in front of Joe. I decided it was best to go for the new slate option, forgetting everything that had been racing and wearing down my brain for the last three and a half months. I could see what would happen when it was just us and no external influences and if I decided to tell him, at least we'd have time together before telling everyone else. If it didn't work, I'm sure I can lock myself in my room for 28 odd days. That's what I do anyway!

'Ella?' The voice asked again and I looked around the pool. The voice was more powerful before and almost sounded like it was someone at the pool saying my name – but no one was there apart from my projection. I frowned as I realised the voice was coming from inside my brain. How the Hell?

'Ella, come on, wake up. Ella!' The voice shouted the panic laced intricately into his voice and I realised it was Joe speaking. How is he doing this? It seemed like he was in my head saying it, almost like the way your subconscious keeps a running narration going for every moment you live. It was completely different from telepathy, granted but it was still in my head. I couldn't shake it. Suddenly, I went really light almost like I was floating again and I tried to force my projection back into my body but It wouldn't allow it. My body was completely broken and my brain was buzzing with the excitement of Joe's voice. God, I am such a cliché, I thought as my body went from floating and weightless to me again. I was warm, though, and comfy. It was almost like I was home.

'How did you do that?' I mumbled slightly into the darkness and heard Joe make a questionative noice. I guess I spoke so quietly it was inaudible. Sounds about right.

'What's wrong?' I asked a bit louder as I leant into whatever I was leaning in. It was hard, but sturdy and warm. I felt comfortable there, and relaxed. I've never felt my body this calm in ages. That's why my psychiatrist thinks I have insomnia – partly due to trauma but more because of the effect the trauma had on my fight or flight responses. I never could relax, always looking out for things that could go wrong. I couldn't relax – and if you aren't relaxed you don't sleep. But wherever I am resting I am completely relax and felt so tired. This is... quite odd. People always told me just by being near their Soulfinder did amazing things but I never thought something like this could actually happen – not with only one party knowing.

'You're very, very cold and you weren't waking up,' Joe told me calmly but he was still scared.

'Oh yeah, that's normal. I did warn you,' I told him, opening my eyes. I was in the living room again, my head against Joe's chest, one arm wrapped around my shoulder and resting on my waist and the other on my knee cap, where my legs were folded up.

'How did you warn me?!' He shouted at me as I flinched, half scared he would hurt me but also because of the surprise. The grip he had around my waist tightened a bit.

'I said check up on me if I wasn't up in twenty minutes,' I told him as if too redeem myself. I frowned slightly realising I was leaning on Joe's topless body. I mean, I couldn't see the view as the damned duvet was in the way but if it was as good as I thought it was I would definitely enjoy this month away trip. 'Why are you damp and where is your shirt?' I joked.

'I just had a shower, I thought you were like... dead.' He told me honestly as he leant his head on top of mine, sending tingles down my spine. I adjusted the way I sat slightly so I could still be curled up into Joe but also look out the window to admire the view some more and the only thing I could say was I felt like home in a strangers place. I felt like home because Joe was around. And I knew right then, Joe would eventually find out on this trip we were Soulfinder's and for once I had no quarrel with it. If anything, I looked forward to it being out in the air and we could mess around and not be so restricted with each other. I smiled though, muzzling myself against his chest slightly, putting my hand against his thigh.

'I'll be fine,' I mumbled and I knew for the first time since Crystal broke the news she had found my Soulfinder that I would be fine.


	28. Chapter 28 - Joe

**Chapter 28 – Joe**

'So where are we, then?' I asked Ella about half an hour later. Neither her or myself had moved from our snuggled positions but I could tell she was warming up quite dramatically and was starting to feel a bit more like herself. She traced little patterns on my leg as she watched the wave's crash into the shore, a small smile on her face ever present. She was absolutely beautiful and I felt an immediate wave of guilt for crushing on someone else's Soulfinder so bad. Note to self; maybe ask Ella if she was born premature. I was a few weeks late, so she'd have to be a few weeks early for us to compensate the dates correctly for us to even have a chance. Then I had to convince her to try telepathy.

'In between Dizzard and Beeny point,' Ella said and I nodded.

'And where exactly is that?' I questioned further because I had never even heard of the names she had mentioned.

'North coast of Cornwall, secluded from literally everywhere in a protected wildlife woods; I mean the nearest thing we have around us is a deserted farm and that's three miles South-East from here. The nearest town would be Boscastle, but that's just a heritage sight and a few tourist shops. Widemouth Bay is a bit further east, but has a wonderful surfers beach. Michael and I used to go down there before the crash with the family – it was our yearly holiday. A few miles up from Widemouth is the nearest proper town – Bude. Got some supermarkets, petrol station and some cute ass shops but when we go shopping it's going to have to be to either Truro or Barnstaple.'

'Ella, Hun, you do realise you're just naming places and the only one I've heard off so far is Truro.' I said as she looked up at me smiling sweetly. I had a sudden urge to kiss her, but tried to make myself forget the memory. God damn, the things I would give to be able to use my gift on myself.

'Both are about an hour's drive from here. We don't have much time now to go and shop.'

'Tomorrow, then.' I said and she nodded, leaning back into my chest.

'Tomorrow indeed.' She mumbled again.

'You seem a bit more... relaxed than you do at base.' I simply said and she looked up at me frowning slightly. I looked down at her slightly and saw the straight in the eye. They were a slightly greener colour today, turning grey a bit around the outside with flecks of hazel around the pupil. Her eyes were just as intriguing as her.

'Er, yeah.' She simply said, sitting up a bit slightly so she wasn't completely against me but I still had my arm around her shoulders. However, Ella looked slightly more uncomfortable.

'You're good, don't worry. Don't tell me if you don't want too,' I said to her again and she just shrugged, curling up slightly but into herself rather than into me.

'Can I be honest with you?' She whispered hugging her legs close to her chest as she looked over at me. I nodded. 'If you knew something and it would change someone's life forever – would you tell them?' She asked and I frowned at her thinking about the question.

'Change someone's life... how?' I asked, and she nodded at me slightly. I guess she didn't expect me to probe the question.

'I don't know – I mean, you don't know what impact it'll have, you just kind of know it will change someone you care about in some way, you don't know if it'll work out just fine or if it'll... ruin them. What would you do?' Ella said and she looked at me with a pointed look. What the hell was she suggesting? I guess she didn't know enough about me to have a secret that would "change my life" so this clearly wasn't about me. If it wasn't about me, it would make sense how she seemed more relaxed when she was away from base if the secret was about someone at base.

'How much do you care about this person?' I asked and she gave me a one shoulder shrug.

'A lot. And the worst thing is I think I care about them a lot more than my brain is letting me know. Does that sound stupid? I'm an idiot,' Ella said, closing her eyes and resting her head on her knees she was curled up that tight. I put my hand on her calf.

'You're not an idiot, Ella. You care about the person so much that you're letting this secret you're holding about them get you down. But what I would do? You clearly care a lot about this person, so just tell them. What's the worst that can happen?' I told her and she just looked me dead in the eyes, a small smile on the side of her face. 'What?' I asked her, running my hand through her hair. It was almost like I couldn't keep my hands off her.

'When you was born – you was late?' She simply asked and I hesitated.

'A few weeks late, yeah.' And she nodded. What has that got to do with the secret? I thought about it for a second and hesitated. Was she suggesting what I thought she was?

'Let's go down the beach – I've been dying to go down since we arrived,' she said, jumping up again in her usual high spirit. She must have felt better, but I was confused why the secret she was on about lead to her asking if I was a late baby. 'Go put some shorts on, see you in a second.' She promptly said, pivoting on the spot and walking into her bedroom dragging the duvet on the floor. A few moments later, the door slammed as she got changed.

I jumped up, walking into my bedroom which was next to the lounge closing the door a bit quieter than Ella did. As I grabbed the backpack, opening up the main department. Was it more, or was Ella acting a bit more shy than she normally does. I've always viewed her as quite a confident person but I suppose every time I saw her she was around people she felt comfortable with – her brother or Jake, or her brother's Soulfinder's. The only time we've been alone was at the party, which we both were drunk off our rockers at, and then when I had to walk her to her train station and she seemed more hesitant there. She seemed more tame, quiet even. The only word I could pluck from my brain was shy. That was exactly how she seemed – shy. It was like one of those Commedia dell'arte actors, who have a mask on to hide their true self. The mask she wore was confident and happy and even outgoing but the second she could she removed the mask and the tame shy side of her was exposed. The mask was only removed when her temperature dropped.

'Are you naked? Can I come in yet?' Ella said, pushing down the handle. Quickly, I pulled up my short which I had found in my daydream about mask. She came around the corner of my bedroom smiling slightly. 'Put a shirt on, you're such an exhibitionist.' She joked.

'I never said it was okay to come in,' I joked back.

'I would have been in your room either way, get your ass in gear.' I heard her walk back into the lounge grabbing a dark grey shirt from the top of the bag and shook out the creases in it. Quickly, I pulled it over my head as I walked out into the corridor, grabbing my shoes from the side.

'Er, what are they doing?' Ella asked, pointing to my shoes.

'I plan on wearing them, you know, to walk outside in. It's dangerous out there,' I joked and she pulled a face. She had changed into a pair of short shorts, stopping just short of her bum and a baggy grey shirt that fell past her waist. She was sitting in the chair, hunched over and I could see the birthmark on her arm again – a small purple x shape that sat slightly above a small tan line.

'Shoes on a beach, now that's dangerous. I get it, you've never been on a beach but do you know what's on a beach... sand. Sand and shoes is a terrible idea.' She told me and I laughed slightly.

'So... no shoes?' I asked and she nodded, laughing slightly. As she stood up, she closed her eyes and swayed and I darted towards her, grabbing her waist and pulling her into my chest. I held her there one arm wrapped around her waist the other around her back gently holding her head as she covered her eyes, still slightly swaying in my arms.

'Hey, you alright there hun?' I asked her and she shook her head. 'What's up?' I asked as she rested the side of my head against me.

'Just really dizzy – I'm probably just nothing,' She mumbled.

'Tired?' I filled in the silence and she just nodded.

'Yeah, I'm just tired.' She whispered.

'We don't have to go down to the beach if you don't want too?'

'No – we're going down the beach, come on.' She said, taking my hand and leading me out of the lounge into the hallway, and then straight out the front door. She stood there for a second and I heard the lock click shut but never once did I let go of her hand. I stood there aimless for a second, wondering if it would be the correct thing to do to let go and remain some dignity and posterity in this situation. But did I want too? Nope. I was quite content and despite being in a strange location. I felt at home in a strange place all because of the five foot blonde next to me, still holding my hand looking increasingly pale and she still looked like she was dizzy. I frowned down at her, still increasingly worried that she wasn't well. I would never forgive myself if she was ill whilst we were in Cornwall and I was the only one who could care for her.

'Are you completely sure? It's quite a long walk,'

'It's just down the path; it's like a three minute walk.' Ella said, looking up at me as we turned to the right walking down past the empty green house – the way I didn't walk to get here. I frowned, wondering where we were going as the small narrow gravel path that was only big enough to go single file. But as we cleared the green house the path turned into a paved path with light orange tiles, three wide, leading straight down to the top of the wooden stairs. From here, I could just see the top of the wooden banister.

'The fuck?' I asked, stopping dead in the middle of the pathway as Ella walked on slightly, but got pulled back as she refused to let my hand go.

'It's a path. Quite a nicely paved path,' Ella joked.

'This wasn't here earlier – was it?'

'Yeah, it was here earlier. I saw it from the helicopter and you know... walked up here. Didn't you walk up the path?' She asked, tugging me into a walk as we went down closer to the edge of the cliff.

'No, I walked through that.' I pointed to the tangle of brambles and long grass that I had to fight my way through earlier. From here, it looked so tricky to climb through. Ella laughed slightly.

'Idiot,' She joked.

'Why didn't you tell me?' I asked her, and she grinned.

'You were a dickhead earlier.'

'You weren't much better.'

'Oh sure I was.'

'You were a complete arsehole.'

'Yet, here you are.' She turned away smiling, 'Race you down!' she shouted, before running down the beach. For the brief second she was in front of me, I saw the numerous scars on her legs and lower back and arms, where the vest top didn't completely cover. Some scars were old, barely visible, compared to others that were new, and only a few months of age.

When I was in the cell last night, Jake came in and chucked a large loose-leaf document at me. I frowned at him, and he just told me to 'Read it and leave it outside your door.'

So I did, I sat down on one of the benches. It was Ella's medial record, and it was the size of the dictionary. From when she was very young she had medical issues. Normally, by the seventh child in a family of Savant's, there will be some medical hiccups. But this normally comes later on, and more or less comes in the form of not being able to control powers. Generally, it works more like this. There's two savant genes; the KLT01-D*1 gene, which activates more the mind which access the weird mind power. It works on different genetic structures, explaining why people are different gifts compared to others, and explains why parent's gifts overlap the child's gifts; the two sets of chromosomes have both the genes, providing the parents are both savants, the gene joins and wala! You have a Savant child with strong genetic basis to be a Savant. They have a gift. Then there's also the mono aminosis macroglubsense low activation gene, or MAMGSLA. This is what causes the multiplying effect. The multiplying effect happens to every seventh child of the Mum, not the dad. After one child, the gene becomes active, and after every child until the seventh it becomes stronger. No one is too sure how it becomes stronger, but it does. On the seventh child, the gene is passed on, making them stronger, and this gene more prominent than in the others. So, you have a seventh child who is already stronger, and then on that seventh child's seventh child, you'd have a very powerful Savant. Confusing science. I'm not into that stuff. All I know is I was the strongest, and most mentally volatile, of my siblings. And, Ella, as the seventh of her family, is the same. I knew that most of the seventh children suffer from never knowing – most from growing up and seeing your brothers and sisters age and never finding their Soulfinder. It makes for a sense of lacking, and its futile. And it does cause issues. Also, fighting against bad people causes injuries normally in late teens where you're impulsive and don't think. But, Ella's injuries started young.

The first page of her medical record is like most others, starts with her date of birth and other normal statistics; born late in the evening at 9 pounds 7 ounces, everything else was okay, released within five days after observation. I couldn't help but smile – so she wasn't some mutant. The next few pages were just x-rays from a broken arm two years later. Fell off a swing. I turned the next page, expecting to keep laughing. Stalking someone's medical record is the best way to get to know someone. But it wasn't what I expected. It was broken bones, alright, but not from childhood injuries.

 **Eleanor Mia Evans, DoB May 16** **th** **, 1994.**

I skipped the medical notes and looked at the diagram they provided and circles the injuries with red pen. They may as well of coloured it in. Punctured lung shattered Tibia, fractured Fibia, dislocated shoulder, several smashed ribs, potential internal bleeding, fractured skull, cuts and bruises, ruptured appendix. She was a wreck after the crash.

I could see them now, running around the medical room, Ella's body lying inert on the table. Medical personnel rush around, trying to save her. The paramedics tell the doctor on duty that she was awake at the scene, but was put unconscious to stop the effects of shock.

'If she wakes up, she'll be an orphan.'

'She has other family, I'm sure.'

'Five other relatives other than the parents, dead on arrival.'

'Shit.'

'There's another young boy alive, slightly better condition than her, taken to another hospital.'

'Let's pray from them both, they'll be the only family each other have.'

The doctor assessed the situation, before quickly yelling 'Get her to the operating room, now!' and they did. They operated for many hours, plating up bones and stemming internal bleeding, removing the appendix and re-inflating her lung, and resetting her heart a few times. After months and months of rehabilitation (and many, MANY pages of paper later), she was put into a mental ward, and deemed with severe insomnia and post traumatic stress disorder. Her uncle and aunt adopted her, and when she was diagnosed mentally sane, she moved to America. Checkups from there was relatively normal – stressed, insomnia, needs more rest. From there on, there were only a few cuts and bruises and broken bones working for the FBI, under a secret medical record only visible by high-up Savant agencies. Got shot two years ago when intervening in another FBI operation but the paperwork was dead from there on in, where either it wasn't printed or couldn't be found.

I looked at the scars, snaking up her leg, and pulled a face. She's gone through so much, she's lost the majority of her immediate family, and the one brother she's had left, she lives on the other side of the world too. Sure, she's got her adopted family and they are her brothers now, but she still suffers insomnia. I just wanted to hug her. But not now, not ever. I instead decide to race her down to the sea.

I can run fast, but somehow she got me there before me.

'Fucking hell, its freezing!' She shouted.

'Language, kid.'

'I'm older than you don't call me kid.'

'Older? You're only older by a few months.'

'It doesn't matter, I'm still older.' She joked around. She just stood, framed by the setting sun, mid-calf in the sea, looking out. 'Wish I could swim away from this all.'

'You'd end up in Wales; I'd want to stay here if I was you.' She smiled slightly, a genuine smile and looked down at the small waves. She looked picturesque and if I owned a modelling company I would definitely hire her. She was the most beautiful person in England easy.

'Well, if I swum in a straight line, I'd probably end up in Southern Ireland.'

'Can you even swim?'

'I work at a swimming place, of course I can swim. I also can surf so yeah, I can definitely swim.'

'Swim across the sea?'

'I can try.' She joked, walking a bit further into the ocean.

'Please don't die.' I couldn't stop myself from staying that, she quickly looked over and looked me up and down, a small grin spreading across her face before it all dropped off. She opened her mouth to say something, looking out across the ocean but in that split second I had a fear that I had messed up by saying that.

'I don't want to be here for a month alone. I'm bored and we've been here less than 12 hours.' I added as she nodded, her mouth closing again as she bit her lip looking down at the sea again, blinking back the tears. I sounded like an asshole.

'I'm going back to the bungalow and going to bed. Night.' She turned around, and walked slowly back up the beach and up the stairs. Something upset her and I wasn't rude enough to question what did upset her. Instead, I just stayed on the beach for another hour or so, and by the time I got back, the door to her room was closed.


	29. Chapter 29 - Ella

**Chapter 29 – Ella**

 _Overlapped perspective at the beginning with Chapter 28_

I sprinted down the beach and to where the waves started thinning out onto the shore in what could have been classed as a record-breaking time. It was an odd skill I had – I could sprint a lot quicker on sand then I ever could on tarmac or grass. Most people find sand harder to run on as it collapses in on itself, giving less traction so it's harder to run but I find it easier. All the more reason I love the beach. I ran into the water, letting it splash against my exposed calves, the salt water reaching the gun scar I have on my left calf, lapping pathetically at in. Salt water is said to heal the body, and has been referenced in plays and in Greek mythology as cleansing the soul and mind, helping one to think clearly. When Joe told me earlier he would tell a secret that had the potential to ruin someone to them, because why not, I decided I would tell him on the beach. I never really found myself attached to Greek Mythology – apart from the fact the whole Soulfinder thing lined up pretty well with Plato's theory – but I would need all the help I could muster, and why not ask help from the ocean. Water always had a calming effect on me. To be fair, my parents and then Karla and Saul told me relentless times that you always connect to the subject of your gift. One of mine was ice, and you can't have ice without water. I suppose it's the same way Yves always used to sit in front of the fireplace for hours on end when he was a toddler, and still does it now when he's stressed, and I had a fear of fire. I also assume it's why I always loved being at the swimming school or in the pool. It was a force that could engulf and literally drown you, but only if you let it have that control over you. I used to just sit at the bottom of the pool for minutes on end without breathing just to clear my mind, but that used to cause people heart attacks thinking I've drowned, so now I sit with just my feet in the pool, staring at the small ripples emanating from my feet feeling the tension drain from my being. I could feel the effect the ocean was having on me from standing here for only a few seconds. Every time a wave hit my leg, a tiny fragment of self doubt was washed away. I believed in myself for once.

'Fucking hell, its freezing!' Joe said, and I turned around. He had run after me, but I had a good head start on him and he had now entered the water. Obviously, he wasn't prepared for the chilly water. It was a very warm day, but it did nothing for the Atlantic ocean.

'Language, kid.' I joked, looking back out onto the ocean. It was about half six or so, and I was dreading the conversation to come. But I was somehow excited at the same time. Joe had persuaded me telling him was the right thing to do without him even knowing what I was on about. I grinned, hoping everything would be okay after I told him we're Soulfinder's.

'We're like the same age – kid,' He joked and I grinned shaking my head.

'I'm older than you, don't call me kid.'

'Older? You're only older by a few months.'

'It doesn't matter, I'm still older,' I carried on arguing, turning back around to look at the sun. It had started it's journey to the horizon hours ago, and was now in touching distance, spewing out the most wonderful radiant oranges and reds across the nearly clear skies, the pathetic wisps of clouds that dared to linger were shadows, a back seater in the suns wonderful colour show.

'Wish I could swim away from this all,' I sighed, moving my foot backwards and forwards in the ocean, the little lapping sound it made bringing more relief to my beating heart.

'You'd end up in Wales; I'd want to stay here if I was you,' Joe said, coming up to stand next to my side. I smiled slightly, looking down at the waves as he looked over at me. I tucked my hair behind my eyes, my gaze focused on a small rock that was caught up in the tide, being taken out as the tide goes out itself. I could picture it attempting to catch a lift to somewhere more exciting. Had I replied to Joe? No.

'Well, if I swum in a straight line, I'd probably end up in Southern Ireland,' I joked, knowing many of my original family was from Ireland. Whilst my biological Mum was related to Saul and was more American, my Dad was Irish. Many thought that's how I ended up with my light hair and my freckles (and my drinking tendencies if we go with the stereotypes) and how I gain an Irish accent on saying some words – much to my brother's amusement.

'Can you even swim?' Joe asked, and I nodded.

'I work at a swimming place, of course I can swim. I also can surf so yeah, I can definitely swim.' I said, instantly regretting it because I sounded cocky.

'Swim across the sea?' He continued, glad he didn't take the comment like a brag, almost like I was going "hell yeah tree man I can swim but you can't you wuss".

'I can try,' I joked, walking out a bit further so the water line came up to my thighs.

'Please don't die,' Joe said behind me almost like he didn't mean too but the emotion behind the words were raw. He genuinely meant it and wanted nothing wrong to come from it. I smiled slightly before I realised this was the perfect time to tell him. But how would I go about it. Do I just say it out loud like "Hey, sorry I know this will be a disappointment to you but I'm your Soulfinder" or is that a bit too vague. I decided it would probably be best to go for the long winded approach which would mean I would apologise God know's how many times in the process. I tried to think through the speech. Joe, I have been meaning to tell you something. I know this is shit and I know what I did was wrong and I should have found out but I didn't want to burden you but we're Soulfinder's. Crystal found you for me accidently one night. Well, I say accidently she just did it without my permission. I should have told you, I'm sorry, but I was too scared. I didn't want to harm you in any way. I thought maybe in the future when I was okay then we could have done something, but... I let my brain ramble on, and I opened my mouth to say his name at the very same second he started to speak again.

'I don't want to be here for a month alone. I'm bored and we've been here less than twelve hours,' He added and I winched internally. So he didn't care about me. The only reason he was being nice was to keep him entertained and no doubt to keep me on his good side so he can use me as a bloody map. I looked down at the sea, feeling my once strong heart being absolutely blown to pieces as the previous framework I had set up came crashing down around me. I was so certain I would be able to do this and then he goes and ruins everything by saying a dumbass thing like that. He had sweet talked me into telling him my biggest secret which just happened to involve him before one snidey dumbass cocky left me bruised and bleeding. No way was I telling him now. I could feel myself tear up and I had to bite my lip from crying there and then.

'I'm going back to the bungalow and going to bed. Night.' I said, desperately trying to keep my voice even as I pivoted on the sea floor, the sand slipping beneath my feet. I tried to remain calm and civilised as I jogged up the 38 wooden steps back up the cliffs walking until I was just out of sight before sprinting straight back to the bungalow, opening the front door and leaving it on the latch before running into my bedroom, falling into my bed before crying.

Why was this so difficult? I was milliseconds away from telling him. I was literally just about to speak and gush out the truth and he opened his dick head mouth and make some comment that just insinuated he wanted me here just to keep him entertained. Not only that, he also said he was bored. Probably because I was here holding back everything. I howled into my duvet cover, crying off my mascara leaving black lines on the white crisp sheet. I was so certain telling him would be okay, especially after I nearly passed out in the lounge and he had to catch me and he held my hand all the way around the house and down the path. I was certain we could work something out, but now I was back to square one – confused, tired, and fed up.

About an hour and a half later, just as the sun had set I heard the front door close again and I looked up from the den I had built in my bedroom to hide myself from the world. My duvet was curled up around me where I was laying in an arch and I had got through the box of complimentary tissues as I cried away my sorrows. I frowned, hearing the floorboards creek outside my door. This would be a tricky one to explain if Joe decides it check up on me again. I pulled a face as the door handle was pushed down slightly, fearing the second it pushed open but it hesitated, before being realised. I then heard Joe walk back to his room, then back to the bathroom to brush his teeth, and then back to the bedroom.

Well, that's Mr. Obnoxious out the way then.

I realised I should have checked up on my American family the second I checked up on the Jake, Quinn and Michael at base. Feeling immediately swapped with guilt, I moved my duvet back over at me and closed my eyes to project myself to my room in Colorado.

I had thought it would have been empty, like it was a preserved memory of me, but sure enough it wasn't. It was a bit tidier than I left it – I knew that much for sure – and there were no clothes on the floor. My chalkboard that covered the entire wall to the left of the door had been washed (not just rubbed – washed) clean, and my desk had been neatly organised. I noticed the shredder bin had a lot more paperwork in it than when I left so I guess the message that had been passed on was I was under a death threat and had been evacuated to an unknown area and to destroy all the notes I have on the case for my own protection. Sitting on my bed was Crystal, Sky and Phee all with equally guilty looks on their faces.

'Does anyone else feel incredibly bad for letting Ella leave thinking that we thought her not being with her Soulfinder was stupid?' Crystal explained, and Sky just nodded.

'When she said stop joking about it, we should have just left it. We just continued it on.' Sky replied back and she sounded like she was going to cry.

'I thought she would change her mind. And now, she could be killed and she's with Joe for the next God knows how long. How shit must she feel?' Crystal said and I pulled a face. I did feel quite shit indeed but it wasn't because of them. I knew all along my Soulfinder was a twat but I didn't listen to my gut. That was my first mistake.

'Do you think she will be...' Phee's voice trailed off but you could tell the insinuated word was "murdered".

'I honestly don't know.' Sky mumbled, and I frowned. 'I don't know if she can just sit around for ages just waiting for the plane to be blown up. I don't know if she could do that – she'd probably find a way to help in where ever she is and she could just redirect the threat. Oh God,' Sky said, hunching over crying.

I didn't know whether to laugh at their conversation, or carry on watching in amazement, or to start crying. Instead, I went for a hidden fourth option – to pretend to be a ghost. When none of the girls were looking, too busy in their conversation wrapped up in _my fleece Disney blanket_ I picked up the white piece of chalk, and slowly started to draw the outline of a ghost.

'I hope she's going to be fine... wait, what?' Phee asked, looking at the board. Crystal and Sky looked over, jumping as they saw the chalk moving on it's own accord. 'Are you doing that?' Phee asked and the girls shook their head. I tried not too pee myself laughing as I carried on drawing the ghost, picking up speed as they started to watch.

'Xav!' Crystal called, and I heard him run up the stairs. He barged into the door, looking confused at the girls eating a cookie. Hmm, what a good way to show your concern, brother mine.

'What?'

'Do you think this is funny?' Crystal asked, pointed to the chalk and I nearly cried when Xav shat himself.

'That aint me.' He simply said, mouth full of cookie and spitting out crumbs. He better bloody hoover before I come back. But surely enough he put his hand above the chalks path, and I moved the chalk out the way and around his hand. However, my precision with telekinetic projection, especially when separated by 8,000 miles, wasn't too good and the chalk went far out to avoid the hand before coming back in again. 'Ella?' Xav asked.

' _sup._ I wrote on the chalkboard.

'You gave us all heart attacks – that's not funny!' Crystal yelled at no one in particular.

 _It was actually quite funny from this end. Keep your volume down as well._

'Are you okay?' Sky asked, looking around to spot me but I couldn't land my projection, the emotional ware of crying had limited my gift.

 _I'm fine, all good._ I said and thankfully Sky can't tell lies when it's just been written on chalk. If I was speaking to her I'd be screwed. _Totally safe,_ I wrote after.

'You with Joe?'

 _Unfortunately._

'Ella, we didn't mean to push you into knowing and we're really sorry if we've made this worse for you. We won't judge you at all if nothing happens or if everything happens, we just want you to be safe and come back from this alive. We're completely sorry for all the jokes, and the digs, and us trying to set you up. And I'm sorry for finding out about Joe without you permission. I just thought it would be okay.'

 _Have you stopped grovelling yet?_ I wrote on the board as Crystal started to cry and Xav put his arm around her shoulder, hugging her to his side. _I can't spend too long here, I dunno how much my temperature will drop – we'll see. But it's cool, don't worry about me. I'll be fine, and I'll be safe, and I'll still be alive at the end of this. I'm a big girl, I can handle myself._ I simply wrote, before dropping the chalk and heading back to my bed in Cornwall.

I had spent quite a bit of time there, or rather in the "black spaces" either side. They just happen when there's no primary time focus and effectively I just pass out and need a few minutes or an hour or so to correct my body clock. I looked over at the clock, seeing 01:18AM on the screen. I was in the black space for ages, then. I always found it relaxing, like you never knew if you were thinking really quickly or really slowly and there was nothing to interrupt you. Honestly, it was just so relaxing. I enjoyed spending time there and it gave me enough time to iron out my thoughts. But I was so restless, I knew what I had planned to do with the rest of my night; I was going to have a sleep now so I wouldn't be a snappy wreck later on today as social times with Joe but I would then go out for a really long run around the winding coastal paths to finally clear my brain. Eventually it was all going to come out with Joe but I was in charge of when and how. I just had to focus on that illusion that I was in control.


	30. Chapter 30 - Joe

**Chapter 30 – Joe**

I resurfaced the next day slightly groggy, as I was rudely woken from my empty dream by seagulls squawking consistently nearby. I squinted against the sunlight that had branded my new room, annoyed with myself for not being able to see the future (effectively, at least) and forgetting to close the blackout curtains last night. I had a lot on my mind, I told myself. After Ella had stormed off after something had made her upset, I had awkwardly hung around, sitting on the beach and mentally drawing up a list of things I could do in this month away which had included quite a lot of things to do with her, going from shopping to some more things that probably shouldn't be listed under any circumstances. When I came back up to the bungalow, completely shattered after not sleeping the night before when in confinement and the whole journey had nearly killed me off, Ella was already in her bedroom, the door closed. I stood there for a second, my hand on the door handle scared that she would be in there crying or freezing but I didn't want to appear clingy or even overly worried and paranoid. I lifted my hands and just got ready for bed.

I surfaced about four in the morning, when I heard the TV turn on, and the games console which was here when we arrived start up before being turned off again. I had no motivation to get up at four to see what had happened, but sure enough I just fell back asleep. I had guessed it was Ella who couldn't sleep so didn't check which was foolish. When we were both under death threats from the people who were planning on bombing, not checking a mysterious noise four in the morning was stupid, but I was more confused when I fell back to sleep and straight into a premonition.

It was odd as seeing the future wasn't my gift. It was more of an add on off my mind altering gift. As my gift focused on an individual's thinking pattern, if they lived more in the future than in the past it meant I could see the future as I connected to the way they interpret events. If they interpret events that happen in the present as part of their future, I could see their future. If they interpret events as linked to a chain in the past, I could see the past. Handy, sure. Ella very much lived in the future, seeing the events happening how as linking to a future event. I tell myself this to myself to try and make sense of what I saw.

Ella and I were in a hospital ward somewhere. It was a relatively private room we were in, Ella was in fluffy baggy pyjamas, leaning into my side. I was in a pair of joggers and an old shirt. We were both just sitting on the sofa, kind of leaning on each other but we weren't moulded to each other. Only out sides were touching, arms down by our side. Both of us watched in near enough silence as six people who stood in a relative diamonds all hostile. Ella and I were on the sofa in the corner of the hospital room, watching the heated discussion happen over our heads. Michael stood on one side of the room leaning against a bedside cabinet which had bottle of prescription pills. Ella's other brothers; Xav and Zed both sat on the end of the hospital bed, with the older brother reading the medical chart of someone. Jake also was in the room, leaning against the door frame. Some others were in the room, bickering about something that I couldn't quite hear which upset Ella. She leaned into my chest as I put my arm around her shoulders, hugging her to my side. I pulled myself out of the premonition knowing it's not good to look too keenly into the future as it's hardly ever right – you can end up with that reality if people make the choices.

Have you ever heard of the butterfly effect? There's a quote that goes hand in hand with the effect. A tiny butterfly that flap it's wings today can cause a devastating hurricane weeks from now. It suggest that there is multiple paths that lead out from this second based on the options you make – the options you make today will create a path, leading to the future. My gift when it does this picks one potential path out of potential thousands. Effectively, my gift likes to feed me bullshit that, changes are, won't happen.

I frowned and looked at my bedside cabinet, slightly surprised to see my normal phone wasn't there. I forgot that I didn't have my normal phone with me anymore, so there was no need to charge it up overnight. Not only that, my usual mug of coffee was not on it's designated place. Normally, Mum would wake me up before she heads off to her work day by handing me a cup of coffee. Mainly because she knows how much I have mornings and how much I cannot deal without my daily dose of caffeine. It took my two minutes of frowning at the empty coaster to realise Mum wasn't around down here. Chances are she'd be getting ready for work back in Berkshire, trying to adapt to me not being around. As much as she nagged me for not being productive half eight in the morning we all said she couldn't cope without one of us around the house. God knows what she'll be like when I move out at the end of September into my own flat. But still, no coffee.

Jumping up out of bed slightly, I looked out the window before getting up. A thick fog had settled across the coast with the mist lingering onto the cliff edges obscuring the view from the window. I finally persuaded myself to get up to get my own coffee debating about how screwed I could be in the next few weeks. I was stuck with Ella for the next 28 days at the very least, and effectively I was falling in love with a psychopath. What had happened last night was obscure; I made a throw away comment telling her not to die and even to myself I sounded way too affectionate. She hesitated on what she was going to say, and I panicked thinking I screwed it up. In so many ways she was out of my league. She was everything someone could ever desire to be, compared to the lacking slight I was. I thought it would be better, safer even, to say that I was bored already and I couldn't deal without her but I phrased it terribly. She then teared up, looking down at her feet and the waves that crashed against her exposed thighs before turning back and heading too bed. Did the latter comment upset her? I never intended it too.

I crept over to the door, pulling it against the deep pile carpet where it made a loud sound and I winced, scared of waking Ella. To be fair, she did say she is quite an early bird and is up at ridiculous times – to me 7:43am was a stupid time to be up.

'Ella?' I called out, looking around into the lounge. The TV was on the news channel, but the volume was completely turned off. The remote was on the sofa, next to a thin spare blanket that was in the airing cupboard near the bathroom and next to Ella's bedroom door. A half empty mug sat on the table but the steam that one would expect to see rise wasn't there. The marshmallows that had been placed on top had melted but had reformed into a solid sheet as the temperature of the hot chocolate had decreased to room temperature. Ella was clearly here a while ago.

'Ella, you awake?' I called again, but only panicked when my voice echoed around the bungalow. I did a quick scan of the bathroom, but the door was open and no one was in there and Ella's bedroom was deserted as well, some tissues lying haphazardly on the floor and the duvet all screwed up on the double bed. The whole place was eerily still, and the girl who couldn't sit still was nowhere to be seen.

I shouted her name again, double checking the lounge and the dining room but no one was there. Ella had simply vanished. I stood in the kitchen, sticking my hand into the kettles left over water to find it was luke warm at the very most, so Ella must have been gone for quite a while. I was just about to telekinetically call her to find out where she was and more importantly if she was actually safe when I heard the door in the extension slam shut. I quickly walked around to the extention that backed onto the lounge and sure enough Ella was standing there, kicking off her small Nike shoes, unplugging her headphones from her phone.

'Where the Hell have you been?' I yelled at her the second the door was open, causing her to jump. However she carried on to lock the back door before turning around and examining me. She was in a pair of tight fitting Lycra running leggings, stopping just above her knee and a male's baggy black running shirt. Her hair was tied up in a loose pony tail going down her back and her cheeks were flushed red.

'I went for a run?' She simply said, squeezing past me to head into the kitchen.

'You went for a run? We're being targeted by terrorists, singled out of a group of amazing talented Savants, we've been evacuated and moved to a safe base and you went for a run?' I questioned her, my tone accusing. She simply frowned, going on tiptoe to get a glass from the middle shelf in the cupboard.

'It was quite a good run,' She simply said, before heading over to the tap.

'I don't give a shit if it was a good run, you could have died and I would not have noticed a thing. I was asleep – you could have woken me up to tell me!'

'Yeah, like you said you were asleep. I left you a note.' She said, taking a sip of her tap water, the colour fading from her cheeks. As I frowned at her, she pulled the hair band from her hair.

'Where's the note then?'

Ella silently walked across the floor and picked up a scrap of paper by the oven, and handed to me before jumping up to sit on the side of the counter. I read the note;

 **Going out for a run, be back soon. Ella x**

I pulled a face at the note, putting it back on the worktop counter pissed off. I had made a massive point of accusing her when she was right all the time. To her, it probably looked like I had flipped because she left my side.

'You were actually worried, weren't you?' Ella asked me confused.

'Of course I was worried, what would I do without you here?' I questioned her, before walking over to her. She leaned to one side so I could open the cupboard above her head to get a mug. I looked down for a brief second and met her eye. They were a wonderful colour today; a bright green colour. I turned around before I had the chance to get lost in them taking my mug over to the kettle as I flicked it on again.

'No, but, you were actually worried.'

'You should have woken me up; I could have gone with you.'

'I didn't want to wake you,' she simply said and I smiled softly at her. 'I mean, you looked semi decent when you were asleep. Anyway, I need a shower. We're going to Truro today, right? When we're there we need to find a dog so I can them with me when I go for a run,' She said, jumping off the counter and walking towards the door leading towards the hallway. The comment touched me and I looked at her.

'You take your dog running with you?' I asked. Whenever someone asked me who I went running with, or rather what gym I went too for my runs, and I said I simply go running through our local woods with my pet dog who I absolutely adored to pieces people would rip me apart. Loving your pet dog? That wasn't manly enough.

'Yes, and that's a normal thing before you start criticising me.' She snapped back, so I can only assume she's had familiar conversations with others in America.

'No, it's just I do the same thing.' I replied quietly.

'Oh, sorry.' She muttered, closing the door behind her. A few minutes later, I heard the door to the bathroom close and the shower click on. The rhythmic hit of the water against the shower tray which was then interrupted as she got in the waters trajectory. I tried not to think about Ella in the shower, and rather I focused on not cocking this up. Instead, I made a hot chocolate for her. I never was a bit drinker of any form of drinking chocolate as I always preferred the coffee counterpart. Thankfully, I always had plenty of younger cousins who visited my Nan and Grandad's at the same time I did and knew how my Nan made her hot chocolate for the younger kids. I poured some milk into the saucepan on the over, turning the heat onto medium to let it simmer. Both of us hadn't really eaten since we got there, but strangely enough I wasn't really hungry. I've never really been able to eat anything before a road trip or in the morning. It was something that Jason took the piss out for having.

'Has baby Joey over here got travel sickness?' He said sitting opposite me on the train carriage, pulling a mocked sad face.

'I don't have travel sickness.'

'Aww, little baby does have travel sickness. Bet your Soulhugger will love that.'

'Soulhugger? Also, shut up.' I hissed.

'How are you going to explain that to your little lady? You might have morning sickness but I can't drive you to the hospital because I have travel sickness.' He mocked me again and I rolled my eyes.

'I'm going to kill you – ' I told him, pulling out my phone on that stupid conversation. I didn't mind him mocking me which was strange. Normally when someone mocked me over and over again I used to have flashbacks to when I was bullied but I didn't mind if Jason took the mick. I knew he wouldn't mean it, but he still found it funny.

'That's a weird wake to make coffee,' It wasn't Jason's voice, sneering and mocking me in my mind but Ella coming up behind me. Wet hair was pushed back, still wet but towel dried a bit, with another towel tied around her body revealing more chest and more leg. She stood next to me frowning where I was heating milk over the oven. I added a pinch of sugar into the milk, mixing it until it started to boil.

'I'm making you a hot chocolate,'

'Why?' She questioned, looking up at me as I looked down. She was so confused as to why I was being nice to her now. Did she interpret the comment last night on the beach in the wrong way? I hope not.

'I'm trying not to be an asshole, just go with it.' I winked at her and she grinned.

'Thanks, I'll just get changed.' You really don't need too, Ella, I was more than happy to enjoy the view. 'Thanks, though.' She carried on.

'Anytime.'

An hour or so later, we were prepared to go out into Truro to go shopping. Now, I was never a fan of shopping – whenever my parents told me to look for clothes, I'd just go online, order a few pair of skinny jeans, a hoody or two and some cheap shirts and that was it. Men who spend £80 on a shirt and £340 on a matching jacket that can only be worn with that £8 shirt, who even are they? Are they not aware you can buy a pair of black jeans and eight various coloured shirts and you'll be set for a few months? I learnt not to worry about what I was dressed in. When you're a Savant you have to be low profile. Being the centre of attention was never a good thing. Rather than being that boy who came in with tight-fitting SuperDry shirt or whatever, I preferred simple baggy tee's. Rather than go out shopping for days, before going to the club, I'd rather simply sit online and order half a dozen items, and maybe pay for next day delivery, and sit there reading or drawing or something stupidly unmanly that Jason takes the piss out of me for.

'Dude, why you drawing?'

'Because I'd rather not spend eight years on X-Box shooting graphical characters.'

'Then go on twitter.'

'Boring.'

'Play sports.'

'Oh, please.'

'Don't draw, that's girly.'

'Ah yes, I did hear the complex action of hand eye coordination, and using brain waves to stimulate muscle contraction in order to pick up a pencil and draw finely is a talent strictly for those of the XY chromosome pairs.'

'That's not what I meant – oh forget it.'

But I didn't, because deep down when you get a comment like that, a comment slagging off something you like doing, it stings. I wasn't blaming him for it though, I can see where he was coming from, but either way it still stung. So what If I used drawing as a method of calming when I got bullied. It was an outlet. Rather than letting my siblings know what I was going through, I'd draw, draw until my hand cramped and the page was full of graphite, and then simply put it under my bed for no one to find. Only when I had to tidy out my bedroom when my parents downsized from their 8 detached bedroom on the outskirts of the town to a semi-detached three bedroom nearer to my sixth form college school, did I find them again. I spent two hours examining each one individually, before sticking them into a plastic wallet, a piece of baking paper between each one to stop smudging. Currently, they're at the back of my wardrobe, hidden from view, sandwiched between the white wood covering and boxes of toys from when I was little and didn't have the heart to throw out as I got older. You never know, toy story might be politically correct. What if toys do come alive? What if you throw them out and they'll come brutally murder you. That's exactly what I thought.

But, either way, there was something that made me scared of sitting in the car with Ella. Scared, but also excited. I walked out into the hallway, shirt still in my hand, in just a pair of jeans.

'You ready yet?' I called down into the hallway, before turning into the lounge. She was sitting on the sofa, tying a pair of black platform converse.

'Give me like two seconds.' She looked up quickly and frowned but smile slightly as well. 'Nice body, do you normally go shopping half naked. I tried to go shopping naked once and I got arrested.'

I smiled before quickly putting my shirt on, watching Ella the entire time. She quickly looked down at my midriff, before looking back at her shoes emotionless. Sometimes, you can tell she works for secret agencies by the way she closes off her emotions, but other times you can genuinely read her like a book. God, was all females so difficult? I quickly ran my hand threw my hair, readjusting my quiff as I went along. I never really bothered gelling my quiff, no one cares about hair so what's the point.

'Are you going to examine your hair for the next eight years, sugar tits?' Ella joked.

'Sure thing, sweetheart, if you carry on with those pet names.' I replied back, grinning.

Hey! I'd really like to know what you think of this so if you can leave a review and follow/favourite it - it would be greatly appreciated! It really does mean a lot to me


	31. Chapter 31 - Joe

**Chapter 31 – Joe**

I stood leaning against the wall of the porch as Ella locked and then double locked the front door to the bungalow. It was nearly nine in the morning so we knew the supermarkets had opened at least, so by the time we get what we need with our newly set PIN for our joint account from Maui, drop it back here and put it away and drive the hour long drive down into Truro town for our main clothes shop it would be in the afternoon. We both sat down to watch the weather forecast, which showed it was meant to be overcast until mid afternoon then clear skies into the night, and the news report which held no information of the upcoming terrorist attack.

'Car. Now. I'm driving,' Ella said, putting the key from the front door onto the key ring which had the car key on and some others – I'm guessing window keys and back door keys.

'Why do you get to drive?' I joked, as she opened the passenger door for me, gesturing for me to get in. I frowned at her. She had gone for plain today – a pair of skinny dark blue jeans that emphasised her skinny legs, a pair of All-star Converse and a baggy black shirt with a low neckline, showing off her collar bone and the small scar she had on her neck. Her hair as pushed back behind her shoulders, fringe tucked behind her ear. The two normal bracelets she wore around her wrist still there – some things you just can't change.

'Because I don't trust you. In, now. ' She said, smiling as I clambered into the passenger seat, allowing the leg room I would need for my lanky seat. Ella closed the door, walking behind the car to get into the driver's seat. Before she even adjusted the chair and wing mirrors, she clipped her seatbelt into place and gestured for me to the do the same. A few moments later, the key was in the ignition and the car caught on the first go. When looking at the car, I had assumed it would be well warn especially as it's 11 years old but it seemed in good condition. I had half expected it to smell o stale piss and spilt beer from months or years previous but instead it smelt of freshly upholstered carpets and lemon air fresheners. It was quite a roomy five door family saloon, and on the driver's side there was a babies car seat, with two toys next to it. An Atlas laid on the floors with RNLI Lifeguard stickers stuck to it. I frowned – new but pre-owned? I didn't want to think of what happened to the family before us and why they left without the babies seat or the kid's toys. I really didn't want to mill on that.

Ella quickly changed gears into reverse, pulling out of the driveway next to the house in one swift motion, before the clutch went down and she went into first gear, and then into second as she accelerated down the dirt path.

'Ella, what did you mean you didn't trust me?' I asked her.

'It's nothing personal, really. I just hate people driving for me and refuse to get in the car if I'm not the one in control.' She changed up to third when the road became less dirty and gravel and more asphalt. She shrugged with one shoulder. 'What do you know about the crash, Joe?'

'The crash you was in when you were little?' I asked.

'No, the crash at Fairy's Cross in 2013, of course the crash I was in when I was little.'

I swallowed, knowing I have to be careful what I said.

'I know you were very young at the time, like three or four, and you and your family were on the way to somewhere, and it was late December. The car in front flipped, killing everyone on board instantly. The car you were in the second one was hit, and it left only you and Michael alive. Michael only had a few cuts and bruises, and his uncle and aunt adopted him with their five kids. You, on the other hand…' I looked over nervously. She was biting her lip, trying not to tear up. 'Do you want to pull over?'

'Nope, do carry on.' She said.

'You weren't so good, though. Both mentally and physically. You took a year or so to be stable enough to leave the children's ward you were on. You were adopted by your uncle and aunt as well, and moved to America, joining school over there a few years back. I think they said something about you pretending to have a twin so it's easier to lie to people. No one would suspect a thing. But, even since the crash you've been mentally unstable, severe insomnia, and no one knows any better because you bullshit your way through every medical examination. If they don't know, you don't get sectioned.'

'How did you know the last bit?'

'I can read your mind, honey. I know.' She just slowly nodded.

The car remained silent after that as we drove down some main roads leading towards the main town. I could see it signposted, with miles indicated next to the name. After about five minutes of driving, Ella indicated to get off the main road and into one of the smaller side roads which were more windy and ended up in the country side. As she went to turn another near 90 degree corner, she slowed right down, gesturing to the little holiday villiage on the right. About 100 small bungalows were enclosed by hedges, with a sign saying where the pool and bar and restaurant were with free WiFi.

'I used to go there before the crash. We used to go twice a year, once in early June and again in late August. I loved it. I've always wanted to go back here – just maybe not for this reason.' She said.

'One day when this is all over, I'll take you own here.'

'That's the thing Joe. For me, I'm not too sure if it'll ever be over. I'm always under too much risk.' She simply said, and I didn't reply fearing an argument. She sped up again, slowing to a crawl to turn a near ninety degree angle. The view was stunning – it exposed miles of yellow sanded beaches with large rocks on one side. The waves crashed perfectly so I guess it was a good surfer's beach but only dogs and the odd tourist covered the beach at this time in the morning.

We parked up in the local Sainsbury's car park just as it turned nine, but having opened at eight people were already milling around. Ella grabbed a trolley, handing it to me to push as we walked up and down each aisle discussing food preferences. It was almost like we were flat mates within university on the first food shop. We discussed what food we didn't like and what we did, how spicy we liked our food and what our favourite type of origin is for takeaway food. I could see we had both gone for the fresh start we agreed before the train station, but was brutally postponed until we got down here because of the kiss at the train station. Ella seemed more bubbly and friendly than she has in weeks. I guess, despite the death threats knocking over our heads, we weren't under much pressure or any instructions. We just got told to behave and that's it. Ella even blushed a bright red and giggled like a kid when I picked up a freshly picked bunch of Lilies and handed them to her. She took them, rolling her eyes but her cheeks gave away how flustered she was as she placed them into the trolley.

About half an hour later, we were in the line to pay and we had to pretend we're someone we're not.

The young girl at the till asked if we found everything we were looking for, and Ella replied back saying we did.

'Oh, nice accent,' the person behind the till said. I frowned at her name badge, just making out "Felicity" through her hair. She was sitting down smiling fondly at us both as she scanned through each item her hair tied in two bunches which formed curls at the end. They came down to the bottom of her ribcage. Compared to many others who work in a shop, her smile was genuine and her ice-blue eyes were shining beacons of friendliness. I quickly scanned her thought process and knew it was her second day of working here having just turned 16 and wanting to earn some etra money in a summer job before heading to her new college. She just comprehended how much money she would earn working 8-5 today and what she could buy her brother which would be cheap enough and accommodate for his special needs.

'Oh, thank you.' She smiled sweetly. God, she was so cute when she wasn't being a twat.

'Where are you both from then?' She asked, scanning a bottle of Pepsi. We had an interesting debate over which was better; Pepsi or Coca-cola, and had resorted to buying both. Why not, it's not our money.

'Just north of Oxford,' She replied and I frowned slightly. No we weren't? I mean, we were south of Oxford and I lived in Oxford and when she stayed with Michael, that was on the Ascot border with Bracknell. Hell, she normally lives in mountain state. I guess the lie was only believable because of the accent she had. She had managed to completely drop the American accent in a few days and picked up one – but it was from Berkshire and not Oxfordshire.

'Oh, lovely! You just here on holiday then?'

'Yeah, we always come down here, ever since we were both kids. We thought it would be nice to bring our daughter down here this time, her first holiday.' She fluently lied, looking out the window to the car. Er, excuse me Ella?

'Oh that's so sweet! What's her name?' She asked Ella, but Ella just looked at me. I suppose she had done well with the prompt lies so far, and this was my turn to take over. Oh God – the pressure though. I looked down the conveyer belt of what was left to scan and saw the flowers for Ella – a bunch of dyed blue and white Lilies.

'Lily,' I told the cashier.

'That's such a nice name!'

she seemed so nice and polite. I could tell, from her thoughts, that it was nice for her to have a conversation for once. Customers can be assholes, just walking up, waiting impatiently, before paying and walking off without a word. Or you get the asshole customers as well. As it was her second day, she hadn't dealt with much, but after a simple four hour introductory shift, she had angry customers yelling abuse. She went home crying in tears. This was her first real conversation she's had with a customer. We, two twenty-one year olds who were hiding from a terrorist group in Cornwall, were the nicest people she's served.

'Thank you.' Ella replied. 'So, why are you working, I mean you only look about 18.' It was a clever tactic. She was insecure, with someone the day before saying she looked like a child and should go back to playing with Lego. By Ella saying she looks older, it contradicts the thought, but as we're nicer makes it prominent.

'I've only just turned 16.' She said, smiling down at the chocolate shreddies.  
'Really? You look a lot older! You're so pretty. Not in like, a creepy way though.' She pulled a face at me, and I saw the slight smile. She knew the effect she was having on Felicity, but she didn't know the effect she was having on me.

'Thank you so much! But, I'm mainly just working to earn some money through the summer. It's my brother's birthday soon, and he has learning difficulties. It costs a lot to buy a toy that's suitable.' She shrugged, still bagging the items we were buying. She was new, and she was slow, but Ella was enjoying the conversation, and I was enjoying her spin her lies.

'Oh, I'm sorry. I understand, it must be hard. But, at least this isn't such a bad place to work.' She gestured. 'It's pretty dead for nine.'

'It gets a lot busier, and people get a lot ruder.'

'Yeah, I had to deal that when I had my weekend job when I was your age. I use to work as a cashier, and as sort of a pool babysitter, I would say lifeguard but no one got in trouble so, and people were just twats. It's the perks of working in retail. You just have to not think too much about what people say.'

The conversation lasted for another ten or fifteen minutes, as Ella explained our daughter was left at home with a friend who came down with us. I found that near the end I was looking at her, enjoying the fake life she was making for us both. Only when she paid and looked at me and frowned slightly did I realise I was smiling like a proud husband, and promptly stopped.

'Thank you so much, Tera.' She told Ella (her, of course, making fake names up for us both) hugging her over the till. Ella, though, dropped a note down on the floor. Felicity went to pick it up.

'Keep it,' Ella replied 'buy your brother something nice and say it was from us.' She smiled, walking off.

'What was that for?' I hissed at her, pushing the trolley of bags, letting her walk beside the trolley. I looked down at her and she was grinning to herself.

'She'll remember us as people we aren't. If she gets questioned on us, she'll remember us as the people who had a kid from Oxford who gave her twenty pounds for her brother's birthday. It doesn'r sound like us, or something we would do. I wanted to give her something – don't you remember working in retail and juggling school?' She told me.

'Yeah,' and it was shit. 'But I meant the lies.'

'I couldn't tell her the truth – but not only that she can see into the car park and probably saw the baby seat.'

'True,'

'Lily, though?' She asked, gently pushing the trolley with telekinesis to the car as I held the handles regretting I told her to park this far away from the store. Personally, I absolutely loved the name Lily but always found it weird telling anyone what baby names I like because it wasn't really likely to ever happen.

'Always liked the name,' I replied back and she just nodded.

'It's a nice name.' She added quietly under her breath, unlocking the car and opening the boot.

We drove back to the safe house and quickly put everything into random places, as there were no pre-allocated places for food. We were back for barely ten minutes, and nothing much happened during that time. We just threw the fridge and freezer things in so they at least fitted enough to close the door, leaving most of the cupboard food in bags shoved away. We needed to spend today stocking up on clothing and a few other bits and pieces as appose to playing with food.

I realized as I watched Ella go on tiptoes to reach the top of the fridge, in simpler and plain words, that I couldn't stop thinking with Ella. I clearly had feelings for her, although I'd rather rip my calf muscles out with a hairbrush and wash them and make them my pet then admit it. And we've been at the safe house for nearly 24 hours? All this has happened in 24 hours. I rolled my eyes and tried to forget the whole thing. Maybe, if I tried to forget it all, I can pretend it was nothing? Happens occasionally.

I sat in the car in silence, looking out the window, biting the skin by my thumbnail, trying very hard to suppress it. I wouldn't be the one to talk first. I wouldn't be the one. I won't talk first. Nope. Strong, independent man. The silence wasn't even an awkward one, but I still wanted to speak. But I wouldn't. Nah.

'So what can you do as a Savant?' I asked. Fuck.

'Bit blunt,' she replied, joining the A39, the main road leading from the M5 motorway to Land's End. We'll get off at the next junction, and we'd use Ella's gift which I knew limited about, to find the way to a car park and go shopping. We were still 45 minutes way, I knew what I did was risky. 'You go first,'

'Well – I kind of,'

'Please start again. You don't 'kind of' so something, you actually do it. It's not like "I can kind of speak French." Because whatever you do, that's the limit to your gift. So you can do it. Don't start with "kind of."'

'Okay, fine, well my main gift is altering peoples thoughts – not in a bad way though. I can more change people's thinking patterns so they can forget things they are doing or about to do, or stop them from thinking about a certain thing for a period of time. I can also see the future and the past accordingly. Never for myself but for other people, based on if they live their lives in the future or based in the past. They normally used me at Maui to narrow down people's emotional links based on who they think about in certain one tailed questions, then blackmail them with it if they don't answer. I know, it's inhumane.'

'It's just your job, Joe. I pretty much do the same thing with my brother Victor. It's more like good cop bad cop but gender reversed. He's the nice "do what we say and you'll be good" guy, and i'm the sweary aggressive one who uses my gift to get what they want to ensure a prison sentence. I hate doing it.' She said, shrugging with one shoulder.

'But you have to do it if it's for the greater good.'

'Exactly.'

'So, what do you actually do rather than watch how people react, which may I saw is awesome and you need to tell me more about,' I said and she smiled at me.

'Primarily, I can prohect out of my body. Like if I wanted to see what was occurring in the car infront I can just think about it and I'm there. I know they're going to visit their Aunt in the Bobmin Moores. If i want to go to Australia I can, I just have to leave my body behind. It looks like I'm sleeping.'

'Sleeping?'

'Yeah, yesterday when you came in and were worried? I was just doing a brief fly over to see where we are, if we're all good from cameras, and then back to base to see if everyone got home safe – which they did. I wrote a note for them on the whiteboard.'

'So why were you so cold?' I probed even further, glad she was opening up a bit about herself.

'I'm coming onto that. That's my main gift. Along with that I can also hear telepathy if it's on the right frequency and I'm paying attention –'

'There's more than one frequency?' I asked but immediately sounded stupid. Of course there would be more than one.

'I never considered it until a few months back when I met Crystal. It's more like radio channels and it's easier to pick up and block it out now. Normally, the more powerful the Savant the higher the frequency. Crystal is quite high up, and so am I but she has to connect to you. I can only hear one part of the conversation when she has telepathic conversations. Another thing which links to the telepathy thing is I can knick other peoples gifts as the telepathy thing and the projection thing if used at the same time can work on someone's brain so I can borrow gifts. I can also then manipulate the state of liquids, decrease temperature. I'm always compared to Elsa, but I can just about make ice lollies,'

'Jeez, how can you do all of that?' I asked her, amazed at how talented she was.

'How can you do all of that?'

'I don't know, maybe it's because I asked my friend to give me one magical mind power and she didn't reply so I made a list of all the things I could have and was like "fuck it, I'll take them all!" why do you think?'

'Sorry, stupid question. But you're a strong savant?'

'I assume. My parents were both seventh children, and my mum was the seventh child out of her sisters. I assume it just collected up and then I came here.'

'I'm the seventh child as well.' Ella just nodded.

'You got any nieces or nephews, then, other than Amelia and Isla ?' She asked. We were finally on one of the smaller roads, heading to Truro. She was right – it was one of the big shopping towns, with large retail branches in slate shops. We joined the traffic heading to one of the main car parks. We both know that one of the bigger car parks would be safer because if someone was tracking the car, a bigger car park is safer (duh).

'Nope, just the girls.'

'You remind me a lot of Jake when he first started,' She fessed up, as she opened the window to get the car park ticket, putting it on the dashboard before driving off.

'What do you mean?'

'Arrogant, cocky, trying to impress everyone.'

'I'm not like that now,' I muttered. I was very much like that and I never noticed until I had to watch my steps with her. Why was this so tricky?

'You're not too bad now, just very quick to get aggressive.' I knew she was referring to earlier, when I yelled at her because she went for a run. I knew that reaction was stupid, but I was just scared. I was falling for her, and fast and I knew I couldn't cope if I was in the house on my own. How could I live with the fact that Ella had died, and I wasn't even near to help her? How would I even find out? Would I be walking the cliffs alone? I'd call out her name; the only reply to my rhetorical question is that of the sea and the seagulls. I'd walk for hours, across the empty uncultivated fields, trying to find her. She could've just got lost, I told myself. She might just be lost? I would tell myself that, until I find her body laying on the top of a cliff top, in the foetus position. Maybe I would cry? Maybe I would just remain emotionless. I'd pick her up and take her inside, carrying her inert body back to the safe house, making sure there was no pulse, no frosted mirror when I put in next to her mouth. Nothing? Then what? Would I leave her there, close the door to her room forever? Take her out to sea, and let the waves take her body? I couldn't. I would be too broken to carry on. I'd let the waves take me – and that's how I knew I was falling for her.

'Yeah, well.' It was my only reply. She quickly looked at me, frowning, before turning up to drive to the higher levels in the car park.


	32. Chapter 32 - Joe

Chapter 32 – Joe

Ella parked up on the fifth floor of the parking complex, before we both got out the car. We followed the stream of parents with young children who must have been here on holiday out of the car park and down the concrete stairs leading into Truro town centre.

'Where first, then?' Ella asked, smiling at me. She was squinting somewhat trying to stop the sun which had appeared now from getting into her eyes. Ella seemed a lot happier mid afternoon and in the sunshine than she had since we arrived.

'Er, Primark I guess?' I told her, shrugging with one arm hoping to appear nonchalant. Now on the main street, tourists and locals bustled through the slow walking crowds. Many languages interrupted my mind. One of the worst things of reading peoples minds, and their thought patterns, was I could barely be in public places. I suppose that's why I found it hard to be social when I was still in school. Okay, sure, I was one of the popular lads at school always invited to the parties and hung around with the massive group of boys. If you've ever been to school you'll know someone like me. However, I tried to escape it. It was painful to even be around them; being able to read twenty odd Jock's thoughts that they let loose. Most of the time their thoughts were insensitive and brutal, not caring if it would offend the recipient in mind. I couldn't deal with that. Jason never understood why I tried to walk off during lunch breaks until I told him that I was a Savant and I found it tricky. I told him I could read peoples thoughts and even remove them but I couldn't bring myself to do it just to stop the pain. From then on, Jason started to cut himself off from the group so it was just him and myself in Sixth Form. I could deal with Jason's thoughts and he even asked me to explain to him how he could hide his thoughts so it wouldn't cause me any pain. I never realised how much I appreciated Jason until now.

'Are you okay?' Ella asked, looking up at me. She actually looked like she cared alot, with her eyes brimming with concern.

'Yeah, just a lot of people around here – the Primark's just up there.' I nodded up the road, squinting. A tour bus filled with German tourists had just pulled up and the count of thoughts went up by another forty or fifty, easily. She nodded, before taking my hand again. There was something about the gesture that was incredibly soft and caring. One second she was arguing with me or trying not to hit me and the next second she was taking my hand to lead me through the throng of crowds to make sure I was okay.

A few minutes walk down, we turned a corner to see a huge slate building which had a plate above the door reading 'PRIMARK Truro' on the side. Roughly the size of three or four football pitches available just for clothes and homeware it was easily one of the biggest Primark's I had ever seen. We both picked up the fabric baskets trying desperately to look like normal people and like we weren't hiding a massive secret. Knowing that our brothers back at base could see exactly what we were buying, we messed around in the store for just over two hours picking up stupid items such as an orange polka-dot mini dress that wouldn't cover anything in a ridiculously small size that I don't even think the twins could fit into.

I picked up a black shirt with a low cut front in Ella's size, which I now knew and put it against her.

'It'll look good on you,' I said, gently moving it away as she shrugged. I knew she was trying to work out what had gotten into me and I really hoped she wouldn't suss out my feelings.

'Go for it,' she commented, picking up a white one in a medium for myself.

'Excuse me, love,' An old woman commented, making Ella jump slightly. I put my hand on her back lightly as if telling her the old woman was no harm to us. She backed slightly into me. The old woman just smiled at the gesture, though.

'I'm sorry, love; I just wanted to say you two are such a sweet couple. You two are very happy together, everyone at the tills I was talking too also commented on how nice you are together –' I looked over both of their heads and saw that we were in clear view of the tills where several cashiers all were looking over. Oh, this was awkward. 'It's just lovely to see.'

'Oh, thank you!' Ella beamed back at her, her smile genuine. Playing up to the part I put my hand around her waist hugging her to my side slightly savouring the time I could playing up to my feelings towards her without her thinking anything of it. I had started too fall for her to much that I was currently in freefall; if I landed safe or not was yet to be decided. Just as I thought that I felt like my gift was, well, drained slightly and I frowned down at Ella. She looked up with me, returning the frown as she edged away from me slightly. Did she just nick my gift and read my mind? No – was that even possible?

'Well, you two have a lovely day.' The elderly woman told us as she walked out of the shop.

'You too, ma'am.' I replied as Ella just remained looking up at me. We stood like that for a few more seconds. 'What?' I probed.

'I thought I heard you think something...'

'What was I thinking, then?' I replied back bitterly instantly regretting it. She turned around and waked ahead of me a bit. We only did a bit more shopping but the zany fun had completely disappeared because I sounded like I was being harsh to her. Ella picked up a few hoodies, some in her size in ladies and a few more in XXL in mens.

'Um, Ella...' I went to point out her mistake.

'I know what I picked up, thanks.' She replied as she walked over towards tills and I followed on her trail like a sheepdog would to a flock of sheep.

We were served by a bubbly black woman who kept asking us about our personal lives scanning through the mountain of clothes we were buying. I noted that Ella spun a different lie about us; now we were charity workers heading to Africa for a few months and we were stocking up on clothes before we left. We had no idea what the weather would be like so we were buying everything just in case. Clever lie, once again. We walked out of the store, the clothes successfully paid for. Without another word, and with her sulking with me still, she took my had and lead me back to the car to put the bags away before returning to the town to get more. It was only when we placed them all in the boot, and we locked the car – Suzie – did I ask her.

'What have I done wrong now?'

'You questioned my gift.' She simply replied.

'You get annoyed by that?'

'Yeah, slightly. Do you know what it's like being an adopted children in a Savant family? Even your own extended family start questioning you if you have any gifts or if you're a proper Savant. I'm constantly asked if I'm just another pick up child. So yeah, of course I get annoyed when people question my gift or snap at me because I went to question something you said. Whatever, I don't care.' Ella crossed her arms across her chest, looking out across the car park trying to act calm.

But it was only when I saw her hand shaking I knew something was wrong with her. I quickly pulled her into my arms and when she didn't resist at all I knew something was wrong. That, and the slight shake of her shoulders as she started to cry. God, I feel like a bitch now. I kissed the top of her head trying to calm her down.

'Ella, it's okay.' I whispered and she shook her head.

'It's all okay, Ella, I promise. I'll still be here if you need me. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I didn't mean to snap. I'm sorry.' I swayed slightly, calming her and I refused to let go until she stopped shaking. However, I did notice the drop in her temperature which picked up quickly. I didn't realise how bad she can get and how quickly too.

'Sorry,' I whispered again as she pulled away slightly, her hands on the top of my arms.

'No, I should'n've reacted like that.'

'No, you had every right to react like that! Here, are you cold?' I took off my jumper and gave it too her, lingering slightly as I saw her midriff as she put the jumper on. It was large on her the bottom hem coming down to mid-thigh. The sleeves hanging past her hand.

'Back to shopping then?' I asked, taking her hand again as it felt normal now.

We had been walking around Truro happily, buying the odd pair of shoes. I even took Ella into a jewellery shop and brought her a light blue bracelet that she put on immediately. We were laughing, walking down the street like a normal couple, hiding a tremendous secret. She was still wearing my jumper, despite trying to give it back several times. And, despite some of the streets we went down being empty and the shops only preoccupied with polite shop owners, we never let go of each other.

'So, lunch?' I asked her, smiling slightly.

'Sure. Why not…'

'What'd you want?' I asked her, but I caught the slightly preoccupied look she was giving around the street. I lowered my voice slightly. 'What is it?'

'Uh, nothing, carry on. What were you saying?' she tried to focus, but ended up looking back up the cobbled road we came down. It was quite busy here – mainly young children with their parents walking up and down, smiling all happy.

'Okay, what is it Ella.'

'I don't know exactly what it is. But something bad, and it's heading our way.'

'Bad as in not good weather, or bad as in murderers and terrorists?' Ella quickly looked up at me, raising her eyebrow at me. So, it turned out a walk in the rain was not on Ella's list.

'Can I borrow your gift for a second, please?'

'Uh, sure, I have no idea how but yup. Take it.'

'I don't need you to do anything.' I felt her touch my mind, her touch soft and glittery, and a feeling that I couldn't shake.

'What is it?' I asked, as she turned a ghostly shade of white.

'They've found us. They know we're in Truro. They don't know what we look like, or what exactly we're doing, but they know we're here and they're going to kill us. They're coming closer.' She leant against my chest, double checking whatever she was looking at. She was using both a combination of her projection gift and ability to hear telepathy, and my gift of seeing the future, to try and track out what is going to happen. I felt her flinch slightly, and wrapped my arms around her.

'Don't hurt yourself.'

'They're coming.'

'How far away?'

'Hard to tell, but close.'

'Come on, let's get out of here.' I tried to pull her away, but she stayed still.

They're monitoring all car parks. It's safer to stay, but not by much.'

'Well, whilst we wait out these terrorist, we may as well get a Nando's' I commented, kissing Ella on her forehead, and walking her to the nearest Nando's.

Without even thinking about it, or asking her, I ordered what she wanted, and sat down at the subtle seating arrangement. She still sat there, hunched out, the once rolled up sleeves now over her hand. Hunched over, with her head on balled fists, you could see she wasn't well. I slowly walked over to her, crouched down and put my arm around her shoulders, but she didn't even register I was there at all.

'You okay?' I whispered, but she didn't respond. 'Ella?'

'I'm fine.' She whispered, but her voice cracked. I knew she was lying. I gently pulled up her sleeve and touched her arm, in a way that I've quickly learnt is a foolproof way to find out someones temperature. It was like touching the side of a freezer.

'Ella, you're freezing!' I told her, picking her up, then sitting her down on my lap and hugging here. We were in the back corner booth, up the stairs to a corner. From here, we could see the door, but no one could see us as the frosted glass only worked one way. I rubbed Ella's arms, trying desperately to warm her up again.

'You okay?' I asked her, after about ten or fifteen minutes, when she started to feel a normal, safe temperature. God, I feel sorry for whoever her Soulfinder is, this would have to become routine to him. But, then for some unknown reason, I felt a pang of jealously. I wanted to be the one doing this routine. No, not now, Joe. Remember, she can hear your thoughts. But even so, she dropped her head on my shoulder, eyes closed but still awake. I gently put my index finger and middle finger to her temple, and closed my eyes, using my gift to find out she had a headache.

The idea of headaches are weird; they're effectively an organ ache. You don't just go 'Well shit, my heart is really aching today,' in a literal sense, and you don't go 'Ooh, my intestines are really panging today', but when you say your brain is hurting, it's a completely sane thing. Special types of painkillers are available for this thing. But, then if you delve deeper you realise headaches are only temporary. If you forget about the headache completely, it goes away. But not many people can forget about a pain, you mind automatically focuses on the pain. It's an evolutionary response. You're in pain, you must be injured, focus on the injury. If you ignore the headache it goes, but your body screams for it to be noticed. It screams for attention. You focus on the killer headache, so it stays until you believe you've taken enough medicine for it to subside. But this is where my gift comes in handy, if I just stop for half a second and simply remove the thought processes evolving around the headache, it disappears. So I did this. I removed Ella's thoughts about the headache, and she perked up immediately. She opened one eye and just looked at me. But a strange after feeling lingered after this, like I just punched an electric fence.

'What did you do?' she asked, distracting me from my inner thoughts.

'I took away the thought processes about your headache. Basically, I cured your headache.' She didn't make an attempt to move, she still sat on my lap, looking at me.

'Thank you,' she commented. She still hadn't moved away. If anything, she got closer. I tightened my grip around her shoulder. There was a part of me that knew if I let go, it'll be like giving away gold dust. She lightly buried her head in my chest before whispering;

'Why did you do that?'

'Why did I do what?'

'You didn't have to do that, did you?' She looked up at me, her eyes a bright green colour. I literally had to fight the urge to kiss her. I bit the inside of my cheek. 'So why did you?'

'I didn't want to see you in pain.' I told truthfully, and that was the truth, wasn't it? I didn't have to take away the headache thoughts, thus curing a headache. Fuck, it would be pretty good revenge. You're a bitch; suffer with a headache that could kill you. Perfect, normally I would've jumped for the opportunity – suffer bitch – but I didn't. If it was Jason, I would've just started talking really, really loudly, but not Ella.

Slowly, and basically imperceptible, I leaned forward and gently kissed Ella. It was incredibly soft, and it felt, well, natural. Far, far too soon, a man clearing his voice near us made us separate.

'Your food, sir, ma'am,' the waiter said, smiling us contently. Ella quickly slid off my lap, but still sat next to me, turning an interesting shade of red as she did. I look down, embarrassed whilst Ella just mumbled a 'thanks' to the waiter, who walked off back down the stairs, grinning.

'That was…' Ella started, slightly sighing.

'Uh, unique.' I finished for her, gently bumping my leg into her. She was doing a weird thing where she was sitting on one leg, but still sitting perfectly straight as well. There was something I couldn't shake about the kiss. _Soulfinder._ How about no, brain. They're a fairytale, the ultimate motivation for a kid trying to lose weight. It's not possible. But think of Jake, Joe? He found his Soulfinder, didn't he? Your parents? Five of uncles and aunts found their Soulfinder's? It's not a fairytale. But, you could tell they were suited. You could tell they were ideal for each other. When Jake first brought home his Soulfinder, when Jason was around and we were pretending to revise together for a mock, you could tell.

All you could here was the door slam. The lounge was at the back of the house, compared to most where it's at the front. No one was home apart from Jason and I. I was pretty much sitting in a corner, text book in front of me, but preferred to do nothing, doodling on the pad of paper in front of me. Jason, on the other hand, was making notes and annotating the quotes in detail. I'll just take a photo of them later, and they can be my notes, too. I'm sure he won't mind. Jason raised his eyebrows slightly, but didn't stop writing.

'Big brothers home.' He commented, and I rolled my eyes. He simply told me, over telepathy, that he wouldn't be home for at least four weeks. I assume those four weeks were over and guess what. He's home.

'Wonder what he's been up too recently.' I mumbled, nicking a page of Jason's premade notes and writing the exact same thing as he did. I have nothing to do with my life, anyway. I expected to here Jake call my name, but he had changed. Rather than his normal thought patterns of work and everything, they were now neatly focused on a girl. I quickly looked at Jason when you heard her voice.

'Nice place your parents have.' Australian accent.

'Thanks, only my younger brother stays at home.' He commented, actually being nice. Why do I have to deal with him being an asshole. But I saw Jason look up alarmed and I couldn't help but look alarmed now. Jake – the person who couldn't even keep a fish alive for a day – now has a girlfriend? Wait, no. I reread his thought patterns. With family, it's harder to read their thought patterns. I know it should be the other way, but with family, it's more like it's too hard and too personal. You've grown up with them, so you know exactly how their brain works, and that makes it harder. And they learn how to block it, you can only see new changes if you focus. A stranger has no idea, so you can, if you want to, remove every single thought that possesses them. But, either way, I reread Jake's new thoughts.

HE WAS ENGAGED TO HIS SOULFINDER!? He moves quickly. Before they even left the front door, I read the girls mind. She's sweet and innocent, only a few days younger than him. She found herself in trouble in public, when a fight erupted around her, and she was pulled in, being catcalled. Jake interrupted the fight, being more built and taller than the other two boys, he managed to get her out and brought her a coffee, and hey presto! They found out they were soulfinders. They stayed together for a while, whilst she arranged to move back to Australia for a while, to pack up before moving in with Jake. Of course, she didn't tell her family straight away. Jake told me to tell Mum and Dad he would be away for four weeks, but I didn't know he would head for Australia. So they went over there, her family approved of him instantly. Which family wouldn't? Good looking, powerful savant, polite as shit. The day before they got their flight back to England, Jake took her down to the beach, and proposed. She, of course, said yes. They had just finished unpacking her stuff into his detached house a few minutes walk from here, and decided to tell our parents. Of course, they're not in, which means they have come to tell me.

Great, I have to pretend I'm happy.

Another really bad thing about my combination of gifts is I can see events that will happen very soon, and the future thought patterns. Like I knew in about five weeks from now, she'll fall pregnant accidently, and won't know until about 16 weeks from now, not until she is ill one night after the wedding, and Jake doesn't want to risk it. I know they'll decided to keep the baby. A week later, they find out they're having two, perfectly healthy daughters. I couldn't help but smile. But I had to be very careful not to tell them, or hint.

But the brain waves started to shake slightly, and I backed out quickly. I knew that meant the person was starting to feel the effects of my gift.

'Joe, stop fucking doing that!' Jake called, angry for once. That was... new.

'Then get in here.' I called back.

When he stormed around the corner, looking very, _very_ , pissed off, I knew I cocked up. But when the girl walked around the corner you could tell they were suited. Jake, who was cocky, arrogant, and tried to be a dick all the time was the complete opposite of small, tanned shy Australian, only here to get a few pictures for her boss of a travel magazine in Australia. Jake glared at me, so I quickly looked down at her finger, making it very obvious and looked at him completely straight faced.

'Shotgun best man.'

But, even so, you could tell they were suited. They were the perfect fit, despite being completely different. They didn't even have to tell me they were soulfinders, I could just tell (and totally read their minds to find out, but still). But that wasn't what it was like with Ella. Yes, I have fallen for her, but she's too perfect compared to the mess I am. Also, she's two months older than I am, and her medical records just read as normal, the birth was a few days past the due date. So, it's impossible.

But a boy can dream, right?

We ate near enough in silence, and when we were nearly finished, Ella quickly held my hand, and squeezed it silently.

'What's up?' I whispered, looking over at her. God, she's beautiful. She indicated to be silent, and pointed through the one way glass barricade. Three men just came in one of the door. Now, I don't know if it was obvious or not, but you could clearly see the gun shoved down the waist of the three men, and one of them had a knife in their sock. The main man was very tall and very fat, with a partly shaved head and the complexion of a bleached toothbrush, but my mind told me he was the one who would be the biggest threat to Ella and I. If anything happened to Ella, he would be the one who caused the issue. The two men behind were younger, around late twenties early thirties. They all had the same call for revenge, and not to mention all three of them were Savants. Without thinking about it, I took Ella's hand and started shielding for the both of us, and I knew she was doing the same thing. In silence, I knew she was protecting any information that could be used about us, and I was hiding us, so they didn't know we were here.

The woman on the podium at the front approached the men, asking if they want a table.

'They're not here, Boss.'

'Let's leave then.' The fat one said, whilst the other young man walked forward and gave the woman who offered him a table a piece of paper, no doubt with his number on it. We waited for another minute or so before resuming our whispers, not once letting each other's hands go.

'They're the terrorists, the ones who said they'll kill us if Maui tried to stop them.' I whispered. I noticed she was biting her lip. I would do anything to gently kiss that spot better.

'What do we do?' she whispered, looking back up at me, and frowned like she was trying to figure something out.

'We remember them. If we go after them without Maui, we need to know who the three Savants are.' She nodded.

'Should we carry on shopping, then?' she joked, taking a sip of her drink, raising her eyebrow at me.

'Ice cream first.'

It was just over an hour later we decided to get up and carry on shopping, just picking up some more clothes from various supermarket chains, and some more vital stuff such as kitchen utensils and toothbrushes, the stupid forget one forgets when moving into a new place or going on holiday. Only when we had to put bags in the child seat of the car did we realize, maybe, we had too much stuff.

'Are they still monitoring the car parks?' I asked Ella.

'Hang on,' she said, blurring out slightly. I immediately moved in to catch her around the waist when she started to sway. I wonder if I was as obvious to her as I was to myself. She came back around rather quickly.

'No, they're given up and left. They're saying they were picking up another Savant in the area, not us. They've got new information we're being kept in Scotland, they're going up there now. They've left as soon as they raided Nando's.' she said, squinting and she looked up me. 'Let's go home, and cook some bacon.'

* * *

 _We are only a chapter or two away before everything kicks off now - and from there on it it's massive plot twist after massive plot twist. Quite a few of you have been inboxing me and leaving reviews and I will reply to them when I have my next day off and can access my laptop (strangely hard to reply on mobile) but leave a review of all your predictions of what will happen. Also, who is our favourite character(s) so far and why? :D_


	33. Chapter 33 - Joe

**Chapter 33 – Joe**

'Should I even trust you with a hot pan?' I asked Ella, who had the pan preheating watching a small piece of butter melt whilst separating rashes of bacon we brought earlier on baking paper on the kitchen counter. I was standing a few feet away, whisking eggs up with a pinch of salt and pepper. We had finished off our shopping in Truro and felt like we had brought a bit too much for the few weeks we would be down here – especially as the boot was overflowing and we had to use the passenger back seats as make shift bag carriers.

'Should I trust you with a cold pan?' She asked, quickly darting over and putting her hand flat into the bottom of the pan. I jumped over, yanking her hand out as I looked at her like she went crazy. I was about to yell at her for doing something stupid and dangerous to herself, but she just smiled a cheesy grin and pointed to the arrow on the dial where it pointed to 0.

'You forgot to turn it on,' She whispered, looking down at my hand wrapped around her wrist. I dropped her wrist and it fell to her side like a puppeteer had cut the strings to their prized puppet.

'You could have told me without giving me a heart attack.' I replied, turning the dial to a medium heat.

I crept around the back of Ella, who was now reoccupied with the bacon in her pan, to get a fork out. She gently looked at my arm, then around at me, and smiled gently, before turning away. I wanted to ask her, I really wanted to ask her what's going on, but what if she's just flirty whilst I'm here falling in love with her? That would just be so embarrassing. I could not deal with that. Instead, I decide to keep quiet, whilst it was silently killing me inside.

We were joking around when cooking, and even when Ella accidently touched the metal on the handle and burnt herself, she was still laughing.

'Kiss it better.' She joked, so I did. I enjoyed the privilege too much. I wish I could always be there to kiss everything better. It only took about twenty minutes to cook everything properly, and only a further twenty or so minutes to eat.

'Wanna go down to the beach?' she asked,

'Uh, yeah okay.'

'Cool.'

'Brilliant.' I watched Ella take off her shirt so she was just in her bra in front of me, tastelessly keeping her back to me the entire time whilst putting one of the shirts she brought earlier on. I knew Ella had no issues with changing like this, as she found it stupid we sexualise underwear, but she pulled out the clothes she decided to wear. A baggy marl grey shirt, brought a size or two too big for her slight frame, and coming down to just under her bum. We hadn't unpacked from our shopping trip yet, so the bags lined uniform in the lounge.

'You going to get changed?' she asked, turning around, pulling down her shirt. The baggier size meant lower cut, revealing some cleavage. It was very hard not to be turned on by this display.

'Sure, let me just get my clothes.' I replied, standing up.

'Just get changed here, I don't care.' She replied, taking off her jeans and searching in the bag for some shorts. When she found the pair she wanted, she quickly slipped them off as I was taking off my shirt. Despite it being six o'clock, it was still warm. I decided just to go down to the beach with no shirt on. I took off my pair of jeans, leaving them on the pile on the floor with Ella's clothes, and she passed me a pair of shorts, carefully examining my body as she did. I saw the slight smile.

'Like what you see?' I commented posing.

'Get changed.' She laughed, throwing the pair of shorts she picked out for me at my head. She did the same as I did, quickly putting on a pair of jeans, snapping the plastic tie to the label.

'No shoes?' I asked her.

'No top?'

'It's hot outside. Free rights.'

'It's not even hot outside.'

'You live in a mountain, what you know about heat.'

'That's really rude; actually, I'm telling my Dad.'

'How, we are to have no contact with anyone for another 30 odd days.'

'MAGIC.'

'You've only got me for the foreseeable future. You can tell me.'

'I'd rather not.'

'Wouldn't you?'

'I've got secrets, Joe, even I can't tell you. You have to figure them out for yourself, or not even know.'

'Intriguing.'

'Come on, beach.'

'Yes, baby, let's go down to the beach.' I pushed her out the door, locking it behind me by my mind.

'Race you down to the sea?' Ella said, as we got to the stop of the staircase.

'Do we have too?' I said, 'It seems a bit childish, don't you –' I ran off down the staircase, jumping several stairs at the same time.

'You little shit!' she shouted behind me. She was barely half way down by the time I reached the bottom, but I forgot she's a sand sprinter. Of course, I slowed down near the end, so she reached the sea first.

'Ha!' she laughed, as I ran into the sea a few seconds after she did.

'I let you win.'

'No you didn't.'

'Oh, sure I did!'

'Don't lie, Joe.'

'I'm telling the truth, Ella.'

I didn't realise I walked right up to her, so I literally had to look down on her, whilst she craned her neck to look up, squinting slightly against the setting sun.

'No you're not. You can't run on sand.'

'I've always been able to run on sand!'

'Oh yeah Mr. I've never been to a beach.'

'Shut up, you live in a mountain.'

'You live in Oxford, what's worse. At least I can ski.'

'And I can walk.'

'You're the type of person who complains if there's a dusting of snow. Exactly like my brother. 'Oh my designer shoes will get ruined in this frozen water.' Yeah, I know exactly what you're like in the snow.'

'Designer shoes? They're fake converse, hardly designer.'

'Well… shut up.' She said, walking away. My draw dropped slightly – was she annoyed? I went after her to apologies, but she turned around, using her mind powers to hit me with a chest height waved of freezing water.

'You bitch!' I stuttered, suddenly shaking, whilst she was laughing. I walked over and picked her up, and walked her further out to see whilst she was squealing in protest

'Don't you dare!'

'You got me wet.'

'Don't, Joe, seriously. Please don't... I can't -'

I dropped her in the water, laughing as she splashed slightly. She sat up, water up to her shoulders.

'I told you not to drop me!' She yelled.

'Don't give me hypothermia.'

'Oh, you're complaining about hypothermia, are you?'

'Yes, that water's cold.' I said and she pulled a mock sad face. I couldn't tell if she was actually annoyed or if she was joking around but it was probably a bit of both.

'It must be really tricky for you. Try being like that constantly.'

' She stood up, and that joking aura around her vanished for a second, and the ghosts came back. A little girl was running around in the sea, splashing around, and Ella went to grab the young child who was running around in front of her. A future version of Ella. She picked up the child, kissing her cheek whilst the little girl was laughing.

'Mummy! Can we go deeper?' the girl asks.

'Only a bit deeper, not too much, remember you have dinner later.'

'Yes, Mummy!' Ella stood there whilst her daughter ran into the waves, up her shoulder height. Ella followed very slowly, and pretended to fall over when her daughter rugby tackled her in the sea, laughing as the toddler splashed her. I couldn't help but grin at the idea. Ella would be such a good parent one day.

'Oh, you don't care then. I did wonder,' Ella snapped, hugging herself whilst she was shaking like a leaf.

'I do care –' I went to grab her arm to stop her but she completely stopped me as if she forced me away.

'No, you don't. I saw you laugh. Don't pretend you care,' Ella said softly as she walked away from her. Her tone dropped completely and it sounded like she was really hurt. I guess all she saw was me throwing her in the water when she begged me not too, before me laughing twice and grinning uncontrollably. I must have appeared absolutely horrible to her. She wouldn't be able to know I had just seen her future child playing in the ocean on this exact beach.

'Ella, please –'

'Just leave me alone, Joe.' She said, walking back up the beach by herself.

'I promise it wasn't that, baby...' I walked after her to explain.

'Don't call me baby – seriously Joe just... fuck off.' She yelled. I could do nothing but watch her run back across the sand and up onto the staircase.

 _Ella!_ I called for her telepathically – something I had never done before.

 _What?_ She replied near enough immediately. The feeling I had earlier, the feeling of punching an electric fence at full volt but everywhere. It was like everything I ever was in the past; everything that was happening now and all possibilities of the future was completely blown apart before being forced back together in a brand new and enlightening way. Ella was my Soulfinder. I couldn't stop grinning, but also feeling incredibly stupid. Why did we not think to check before? We had gone through months of separation and months of me wondering if it was possible to find out it was. She was the one person who I lost all the weight for when I was thirteen – and it was worth it. I had foun my Soulfinder on a beach in the middle of nowhere. Okay, e might have been hiding from a terrorist organization who wanted to kill us but for the romantic reasons let's skip that step out.

I stood in absolute amazement, frozen in a mixture of pure happiness and slight fear as Ella continued to walk up the stairs. Didn't she realise what this meant? I ran straight up behind her, which wasn't too hard as she was walking incredibly slowly, shaking.

'Ella, we're Soulfinder's, aren't we?'

'Glad you finally paid attention.' She replied still not looking my way. I stopped on the stairs, before going to say something cute when what she said finally clicked.

'What the Hell do you mean?' I said then realised exactly what it meant. She's known for quite a while but kept it to herself. 'How did you know?'

'Crystal,' she simply said. I paused for a moment, wondering what the Hell she meant. Crystal? And then I realised exactly what she meant – Crystal was probably the only Soulfinder on Earth that all Savant's know about and just happens to be Ella's brothers Soulfinder too. I remembered seeing them two when they first came over to England and they were close. When they walked away from the room we interviewed the wife-murderer they were quietly talking to each other, but Crystal turned to look over her shoulder at me whilst Ella just shrugged, hugging herself. But that was nearly three months ago. She's known for ages, but never told me.

'Why didn't you tell me!' I practically yelled, and she stopped on the top of the stairs turning around to loo down at me.

'Because you're a dick one second, and you're not the net. I thought, maybe, you weren't so bad earlier but you just laughed your head off when I froze down there. You don't give a shit I get hypothermia on a regular basis. You probably don't even care if I vanish and never come back, right?'

'Of course I care, Ella, you know that.' I shouted back to her.

'No, I don't and no you don't.'

'Ella, hun, please – well work this out, don't run off!'

'Fuck off.' She called back down the stairs, running back down the path to the bungalow or to the car to drive away as I sat down on the staircase limp and wondering how this had all gone wrong.


	34. Chapter 34 - Joe

**Chapter 34 – Joe**

I sat isolated on the platform in the wooden staircase as I stared out to sea wondering how on Earth I had managed to cock this up so much. This wasn't what it was like for Jake and Leannah – they were joint at the hip the second they found out. This was not the way that people portray it to you. When my parents told me I would have a dream girl out there, they always said when we found out it would be the best moment of our lives, but currently I felt like crying all because I couldn't keep my bloody gift under control. All because I managed to see Ella and her daughter playing with in the shallows of the sea. One second she was completely fine, the next second she was pissed off thinking I was laughing at her freezing half to death. I wasn't laughing at that – I would never – but I was laughing at her daughter tackling her in the ocean and Ella pretending to fall but making sure the little girl was completely safe.

I shivered, suddenly aware that I wasn't in a shirt and was still dripping wet from the icy water Ella had chucked at me before it had all gone wrong. But I hadn't heard the car start up. Honestly, I hadn't even heard any doors slam close. I forced myself to walk up to confront the situation, but got scared the second I looked down at the wooden steps seeing the small trail of water that must have dripped from Ella's oversize shirt or her shorts – but the trail of water was now a trail of ice.

 _Ella, are you okay?_ I whispered but she didn't reply. It was almost like she wasn't there – not like she was blocking me off but more like she was asleep. That's odd? I walked up slowly, allowing herself to lock herself into her room for probably the next twenty seven days or so.

By the time I got to the top of the staircase and I looked up I just saw Ella sitting down of the side on the small brick wall around the house. Head towards the ground, holding onto the pavement that was on the top of the wall as a stopper as if trying to steady herself. I sighed audibly out of relief. She didn't hate me too much – I mean she was still outside and wasn't locked away in her room. I walked over to her, ringing the water from my shorts. Perhaps denim wasn't the best idea. To be fair, I didn't plan on getting soaking wet. As I got a bit closer to her, I noticed she hadn't moved at all.

'Ella?' I called to her but only when I walked down the three stairs into the garden where she was sitting did I notice her were shut. Was she ignoring me? Her baggy dark grey shirt she was wearing was rolled up revealing her belly button where it looked like she had tried to take it off. I sat down next to her, but even I knew something was off.

'You alright, hun, look I'm sorry -' I asked, but no reply. It was only then I started to panic. I touched her thigh flinching at how cold she was. It was actually painful to touch her.

'Ella?'

I put my arm around her shoulder and she leaned in slightly but completely lost consciousness and collapsed into my arms entirely. I quickly picked her up, amazed by how little she weighed and took her straight into the house using telekinesis to unlock the door. Not bothering to walk to her room, I kicked open the door to my room, moving the duvet off one side with my mind, before laying her down and putting it back over here again. What the hell do I do now? For all I know she could be dying of hypothermia right now and I'm sitting here useless. What the hell do I do? I didn't realise how much I cared about her until I'm practically crying because I had no idea what to do.

I suddenly remembered the training we had before we went on our primary school residential trip to the Lake District. The training included what to do if someone contracted hypothermia. We all sat in the schools hall with a camping expert. As the trip was in late November and we were doing lake walks within this time, it was just in case someone would trip and land on their knees in the water or something. The first step was the step everyone was most uncomfortable with (especially in Year 6) and that was to remove the person's wet clothing and get them changed into dry new clothing.

I walked into the lounge where all our bags from shopping sat there. I found one of my shirts and hooded jumper that I brought today and walked back into my room snapping the plastic tags off. I took off her wet shirt, throwing it straight in the corner, and then her bra before putting the shirt and jumper on her. I hesitated slightly before getting into the bed with her, hugging her slightly as I took off her soaking shorts which had literal ice patches on. I rubbed her arms as she rolled over onto me a bit more, starting to gain a bit more consciousness. The weird thing was I could be completely happy with this, just knowing she's okay with me. I would be so happy with this – well, perhaps less unconsciousness. That would be good. I knew I had messed up quite a bit and wasn't nice to her all the time as in some ways she angered and frustrated me by keeping relentless secrets from me and not letting me help her. One of my old friends, Jack, always told me I was too much of a wuss to sleep around with all the girls at Sixth form. I just wanted to wait for my Soulfinder. And with my beautiful, perfect girl in my arms I knew I did right. There was no way I would ever do anything to upset her or hurt her ever again.

Ella had started to warm up now and was a bit more responsive to her environment. After a while, she tangled her legs in mine and rested her forehead against my chest. Slowly, I picked up a massage pattern as if to share my warmth with her. There was quite a few sizes between us and the jumper I brought to be baggy on me was some sort of dress on her, coming down to mid thigh, sleeves rolled up to her wrists.

'Joe?' She murmured, moving a bit closer but leaving her eyes closed.

'Yeah, hun?'

'Sorry.'

'Why are you apologising, you haven't done anything wrong!'

'I was a bitch... am.'

'No, you're not.' She went to protest, moving away slightly as if to argue with me but I cut her off, my grip around her waist tightening. 'Don't argue, you're not a bitch.'

Ella finally opened her eyes and looked up at me. God, her eyes were beautiful. From spending the entire day in the sun, rather than picking up a tan more freckles had appeared and the resident freckles had just got darker. I tucked a loose bit of hair behind her ear, her hair still dripping from when I threw her into the ocean. I smiled at her, before kissing her forehead.

'You're not.' I gently told her, but she just looked up at me squinting slightly. I tightened my grip around her waist, letting her lay on my arm. Our legs were still tangled, the bare skin exposed from the shorts and our complete bare legs were tied together. I noticed that she was somewhat near normal body temperature, her temperature picking up a hell of a lot quicker than it did yesterday when we first got here. Very slowly, I leaned forward to kiss her. I was terrified at first, scared after the bitterly cold response I had got outside but I felt her hand on my neck and I pulled her in closer and deepened the kiss, enjoying al the barriers melt down between us. After quite a few minutes we both broke away from each other grinning, with Ella lying on top of my chest.

'How are you feeling now?' I whispered my arm still around her waist, the other hand woven in her hand.

'Alright, I guess.' She shrugged, lying back down on my chest calm for once.

'This is a pleasant change.' I said.

'Pleasant change from what?'

'Arguing, killing each other...'

'Flirting all the God damn time.' She laughed slightly, winking at me.

'Not my fault you didn't tell me.' I joked. Her hoody had managed to roll up to her waist, so I took the opportunity to pull it back down again. Ella looked up at me to see if I was joking and when Ishe saw that I was grinning at her, she kissed me gently again.

'I just wanted to see how long it would take for you to click on,' She explained.

'Don't lie, Ella – I know there was a reason you didn't tell me.' And she laid back down completely avoiding eye contact.

'Two reasons, actually. Firstly, I was scared.'

'Scared of what?' I questioned, slightly happy she was opening up to why she never told me. I should be annoyed she kept such a massive and life changing thing from me, but I knew Ella well enough to know she would have reasons behind everything.

'I don't know. I know a lot of Savants who never want to meet their Soulfinder, and I heard you talking about yours, then I heard you think about all the weight you lost when you were, like, twelve, for your Soulfinder, and I'm not worth you doing all of that. I thought, if I didn't tell you, you wouldn't find out and you'll carry on thinking your Soulfinder is some amazing beautiful girl, and not shitty old bitchy me.' Ella muttered, tracing patterns onto my chest shrugging slightly. Weirdly enough, I felt something wet on my chest and looked down and I knew Ella was crying. She believed every word she had said. I hugged her tight, kissing her forehead and smelling the sea air that was still in her hair.

'Ella, whatever I did in the past, all the weight loss and altering the bullies' mindsets and everything, anything I did in those years, was absolutely worth it. I see you lying here, and yes I might have only known you're my Soulfinder for like an hour or something, but seriously, even though you're soaking wet, smell a bit and you have hypothermia, it has all been worth it. I never knew if I wanted to meet my Soulfinder, but if I knew it was you, I'd've look forward to the day. Also, don't call yourself a bitch again.'

'That was edging on poetic.' Ella laughed slightly wiping away a tear. God, she was a hormonal mess like her brothers joked she was.

'I don't think you understand how much I liked you before we found out...' I mumbled.

'Uh, you found out.'

'Fine, okay, I found out we were Soulfinders,'

'Yeah... I liked you too.'

'When why didn't you tell me?' I hissed but I was joking. Was I? I didn't know anymore, but I was just glad we ended up with this conclusion anyway.

'Cause I'm a bitch,' she joked around and I rolled her over, so she was lying down and I was leaning over the top of pinning her shoulder down as she laughed.

'Promise me you won't say that again?'

'You laughed at me when I said I'm going to get hypothermia. That was rude, can we discuss that?'

'I wasn't laughing at you. Hell, I really don't think I was even laughing.'

'You definitely smiled and laughed!' Ella protested, grinning at me as she realised she caught me out. I remembered back to seeing that little girl running around, her blonde hair blowing messily in the wind, laughing but out of breath at the same time so excited by the ocean. I remembered seeing Ella – she didn't look like she's changed too dramatically since then so it's probably only five or ten years in the future – trying to catch her daughter before she went in too deep and a bell went off in the back of my head. If that was Ella's daughter, and I was Ella's Soulfinder – provided we stayed together would that be my daughter too? Would this mean Ella and I would go on and have kids together?

'You're doing it again,' Ella sang.

'It wasn't you.'

'Er, that's a lie. It was about me.' Ella said and I rolled my eyes. I forgot she can read emotions by seeing how my face reacts or whatever. God, we're going to have a very truthful relationship, which is good but maybe not so good when I wanted to plan a surprise for her.

'Okay, but it's not the current you.'

'Better not be past,'

'Future, don't worry.' I said.

'What happened?'

'Ella, you know I cannot tell you that,' I tutted.

'Why not?'

'It's your future.'

'Our future, thanks, though.' Ella said and I rolled my eyes but so glad that her future now includes me.

'Fine, our future it is then.' I held her hand. 'Our future, but I still cannot tell you.' I said as I smiled and she rolled her eyes at me.

'Yeah, but, whilst you were rambling I kindly borrowed your gift and saw what you saw. That kid is cute, isn't she.'

'Ella! You can't just do that!' I exclaimed, rolling back over so she was lying on my chest.

'Maybe it's our kid. Oh!'

'Ella, don't steal my gift, alright. It's tricky to work out what will happen and come true and what won't.' I explained and she nodded. She laid back down again, pulling down the hem of my hoody that had rolled up again.

'There's still potential, though?'

'Roughly a one in a thousand chance that will happen,' I told her. There were too many eventualities coming out from this moment to be any more precise than I was being right now. About a thousand chances would seem right. 'I also see the people as they are now, compared to how they would be now – so it could happen like nine months time, it could happen fifteen years time.' I explained to her and she just nodded, curling up slightly into my hoody. 'Er, I'm not going to get that back, am I?'

I rolled over to look at her as she shook her head grinning. I gently kissed her, never getting used to the feeling of being with her.

'Like the other hoody I gave you?'

'They're my pyjamas now.' She simply said grinning.

'Oh, with my shirt you stole the day after the party.'

'No, I'm afraid that was taken from me. I got told off by the girls for acting like I had gone through a break up in Cornwall when we went on holiday. One of them has kept it. My bets are it being Crystal.'

'Do they all know?' I asked, confused.

'Know about?'

'Know about us, Ella.' I took her hand amazed at how small she was. Like, I get it. I am tall, being six foot four and all. I had to duck when it came to walking through normal sized doors but Ella had the complete opposite issue of me. She was absolutely tiny and probably could walk through doors with her arms up and still not touch anything. Of course her hands would be in proportion to her size, meaning her hands were just over the size of my palm. She is so adorable.

'I'm afraid so, they know that we're Soulfinders – they don't know we're getting, well, got together so to speak,' she said guiltily, avoiding eye contact.

'Er, what do you mean?'

'Well, when I first got told I never wanted to actually get together. Nothing personal, it was just... I thought I would ruin you.' She said quietly, face first into my chest.

'Ruin me?'

'I'm not as simple as it seems.' She mumbled, looking down. 'You were just so nice and so gentle and so perfect really and I didn't want to ruin that. I didn't just want to waltz into your life, to announce this thing that you dreamt some gorgeous busty tall chick with great legs would say to you just for you to find out it was me – a shitty girl who can't speak to a group and can't sleep and has constant flashbacks and nightmares of a car crash that happened fifteen years ago!' Ella was full on in tears, shaking with the sobs. I sat up slightly, legs kicked out and pulled Ella up to do the same. She curled into a ball but allowed me to pull her to my side, one arm around her, the other running through her hair. It took about fifteen minutes to get Ella to calm down.

'Ella, there is no way you can mess me up or ruin me. I don't care if you think you're a mess – we can work it out, then you can be my mess.' I whispered to her.

* * *

Hello again! Something has gone wrong with my FanFiction and it's not actually showing me any reads or reviews or visitors or anything as it keeps saying there is an error. I dunno if this is a thing that's effecting everyone or just me but thank you to all the reviews I've been getting (emails of them, I can see them just cant moderate them) it means so much! But now it's all out in there air - do we think they'll work it out? Let me know I love reading what you think it's so motivational and lovely, and it makes my work break more entertaining but also I'm quite ill at the moment and there's a lot going on that's pretty personal so seeing what you think really does cheer me up so thank you! :D


	35. Chapter 35 - Ella

Chapter 35 – Ella

I sat on the sofa, legs up to my chest with Joe's arm around my shoulders pulling me into him. My hand sat on his thigh, and I was amazed at how relaxed I felt. Everything had happened in such a short time when I was so tired and worn down that I didn't have much time to comprehend what was actually happening. I mean, I was fully aware of what was happening but it was more why it was happening and what I was feeling about it. Was that weird? I was completely pissed off with Joe one second down on the beach, even though I knew it was irrational. I felt like such a knob. Do you ever do that? You do something whilst knowing it's irrational but a feeling completely over rides you. Sounds weird, but it always happens when hormones are flying around. I could blame this all one me stop taking the pill. I mean, I was still on the implant (you can't really stop taking a thing that is in your body – literally) so I really couldn't see any point of continuing to take a pill that was doing nothing. It wasn't like I got up to much anyway, and it was just to make paperwork a lot easier and insurance a bit easier to cover in America. It literally meant Vick could tick the "not pregnant" box without questioning me eight thousand times – a conversation that wasn't fun. Not only that, if the pill or the implant failed, there would be a wonderful payout too (and a baby, too,) but that was so unlikely. I mean they were both prescribed by secret services. That's the only reason I took them. However, now I was down in Cornwall I only needed one or the other. I didn't even bother taking the tray of contraceptive pills with me which Jake smuggled into my bad even though I told him not to bother. About seventy two hours after my last pill. It would be about right for my hormones to be all over the place now. Side effects of not taking it; mood swings and irrational anger.

I knew yelling at Joe for no reason wouldn't achieve anything but I was slightly annoyed he considered the thing that could kill me in seconds funny. But I knew he wasn't laughing at me. I knew he saw something, and he was using his gift, I could tell it. I still took the easy route out of yelling at him. And then he broke the rule neither of us were meant to break; talking telepathically. He found out.

But he was so nice about it. He was so gentle and so caring and it wasn't fair. Now I felt like an utter prick for hiding it from him.

'You over think a lot, don't you?' Joe asked, rubbing my knee. I was just in my boxers and his long shirt, having taking the jumper off when my temperature got up to a normal temperature. He still kept his grip around my shoulders, though, and left me tucked up in the crook of his shoulder. I almost felt at home there.

'Yeah, sorry.'

'Don't apologise,' Joe said, kissing the crown of my head. 'I was the one that was eavesdropping. Good to know about the whole pill implant thing,' He simply said.

'Good to know?' I laughed, looking up at him with an eyebrow raised.

'None of that, Ella, behave yourself, girl.'

'You were the one that suggested that!'

'Behave,' Joe joked, tickling me as I curled up slightly laughing. He carried on, probably guessing how much I hated it.

'Stop that, Joe!' I laughed but he continued to laugh as he tiggled me. I laid down, curling up again facing into one side of the sofa. 'I surrender whatever, just stop that!'

'Glad we sorted out your ticklish, too.' He simply said as I rolled over. Before I even noticed, he was laying down behind me, his back flushed to the backrest of the sofa, his arm around my waist and the other arm straight under my head.

'We can't just sit here and let the bomb exploded, Joe.' I mumbled, glad that I could pretend to watch the news rather than look at him in the eye for this impending situation. Granted, Joe is a bit of an idiot but he has a heart of gold. He wouldn't let that happen either.

'I know, but what else can we do?'

'I had an idea...'

'Why does this idea feel like it'll be a suicide mission, El?' He whispered.

He was right. Once I felt slightly better and warmed up in Joe's bed, he picked me up and took me to the sofa. We sat there for a few hours before I went to have a shower to think through all the events that had happened and came up with a plan – even though it did sound crazy. It was only a first draft of a plan, and would need a lot of work for it to even have a successive tail to it. I mean – showers are the best time for thinking and this seemed like a good idea but Joe was right. It did seem like a suicide mission. I went to speak, but there was no way I could justify a response. Instead, I just sighed and he rested his head on my neck. I had personal space issues and hated people normally doing this if they weren't family. My brothers could just about do it with me, but after a while it felt uncomfortable. Jake was alright doing it because I knew it was a friendly gesture. But when Joe did it, it almost felt natural. It felt like we were two corresponding pieces of a jigsaw finally slotted together. How stupid was I to think I could live without him? 'What's your idea?' Joe said.

'You're not going to like it, hun.' I replied back and I felt him shrug, his hand rubbing my stomach.

'No, I don't think I will but it might be the only way to stop hundreds dying.' He said.

'Tomorrow or sometime in the next week, both of us project back to base and try and find out where they're searching for the terrorist people. I had an idea but I don't want to go there just yet by myself so soon after being evacuated –'

'Who do you think it is?' Joe asked, and I frowned.

'This is just a guess, but after the party I went on a girls holiday with my sisters down to Cornwall – ironically just up the road in Bude – and we visited this small island just visible from there. You could probably see it from here if it's a really good day, too, called Lundy. Like, only 40 people live on it. There's a completely uninhibited island that no one had lived on for years, like decades, and when I used my gift to snoop there was like a massive warehouse built up and men bringing all kinds of crap in Sports Direct bags for life into the warehouse. It seemed odd and I even manage to sense danger there too – do you think it could be related?' I explained, weaving my fingers through his.

'Possibly – it seems a bit coincidental but that's still odd and definitely worth a look.' Joe agreed with me and I nodded. 'You're not going alone,'

'You always forget my gift, Joe.'

'But you freeze!'

'Yeah, I do. But when we find out where the people are based we pack up and go down there, and we just have to go in and disable the bombs or stop the people. You wouldn't come with me, I'd go alone ...'

'Ella – that's stupidly crazy. You're not going alone. We'd go together but we're not doing that. We can't just barge in and disable bombs.' Joe said, and I rolled over in his arms to look up at him.

'I know it's stupid but I...' I looked up at him and he was angry. Furious even. Probably because I said I'd leave him safe whilst risking myself. But like I would lead Joe into a situation that could get him killed. I didn't care if I got myself injured or killed – I couldn't let Joe get hurt. It was amazing how quickly Joe because my top priorities. But sleep had started to drag on me like an anchor, causing disruption everyone in my brain. It made thinking logically a lot trickier. This feeling was one I was used too. Having insomnia meant I was tired but my body wouldn't relax enough to sleep. But it felt like my body wanted to crash right where I was in and sleep for eighteen years. Huh. 'I dunno, I'm just so tired, sorry.' I mumbled.

'Don't apologise, hun. Look, go to bed. We'll discuss everything properly when we wake up,'

'This wasn't how you wanted to meet your Soulfinder, was it?'

He put his hand under my chin, lifting it slightly up so I could look him in the eye. 'Not going to lie, it wasn't. However, this will completely suffice. You must be shattered,'

'I'm fine, I'm not getting up.' I crossed my arms as he rolled his eyes.

'God, you're stubborn. Fine, we can stay here. I'll just carry you to bed,' Joe said and I rolled my eyes. Clearly he didn't know I had insomnia or how it works.

'Okay, sounds like a great idea.' I said as he went back to watching the TV – now a programme about retailers up selling as I watched him. He had the most intriguing eyes – a weird blue green mix. But at the moment they were shining a dark blue with light green around the iris. His brown hair was roughly quiffed still, but was fluffy from where he had his shower after mine. He only had a pair of fabric shorts on how, leaving his chest bare. Let's just say all the guys at work; excluding Cassian the assistant manager who hates me and the admin team had to be to a high level of fitness. Joe met this level and... let's just say I enjoyed the view. I sighed as I relaxed a bit more. I just felt so at home next to Joe.

I knew all the time my fears were irrational, but I couldn't bring myself to break the faulty thinking pattern. Now, as if fate had forced it upon us, we were together but I was even more concerned. As feelings continued to multiply as the minutes went past I never want to hurt him and I couldn't see a way out of this without getting hurt.

'We'll discuss everything tomorrow when you've had some rest, Ella, okay?' Joe said and I nodded, feeling like I was fading out of existence and into the grey world of unconsciousness.

I jolted back awake when I felt myself being lifted up and carried down the hallway. A few seconds later, I heard a door creek open and then I was placed on my bed. The duvet was pulled up to my neck, and I heard footsteps start to recede.

 _Joe?_ I whispered telepathically just in case it wasn't him.

 _I thought you were asleep, hun, what's up?_ He asked me, and I opened my eyes. It had gone dark outside; the only light on this side of the house was the lamp next to my bed that Joe must have flicked on for me. He knew I wasn't a fan of the dark, especially at night. He was currently passing every early-stage boyfriend test there was. He looked over at me concerned. He too looked like he had woken up so I guess we had both fallen asleep on the sofa together.

'Please don't leave me,' I said before I even figured out what I said. He hesitated slightly, wondering what to do. He came back into the room, closing the door behind him.

'I won't ever leave you, Ella.' He simply said, sitting down on the edge on the bed brushing a strand of hair from my face. I patted the left side of the bed and he smiled, climbing in, putting his arm out as if offering me a hug. It would just be rude not to accept at this moment in time, so of course I wiggled into him, my head on his chest, legs tied in his legs and hand resting above his heart.

'I know there is a lot confusing you at the moment, Ella, but I just want you to know that we'll work it out, okay? Tomorrow, I'll make you breakfast and we'll sit down and talk through everything and get a plan worked out but let's just get one thing straight. I'm not leaving you.' He said, playing with my hair as I started to drift off again. Going from years of not being able to sleep bar one nap at 3am, having two naps in short succession and at half ten seemed perfect.

'I never wanted you to leave.' I mumbled.


	36. Chapter 36 - Eleanor

**Chapter 36 – Eleanor**

 _Forewarning: This chapter gets graphic and contains ideas that may upset readers. If you are of a sensitive disposition and wish not to read, please don't feel obliged. I'd rather you be safe than read something that may upset or trigger you. Most of this is extracts from another chapter in another one of the books before this so I will edit it later on but the subjects in the chapter are very personal and sensitive as the events in this chapter are based on real events to people close to me._

I was aware that I was cold. Freezing, in fact. I hugged myself and was surprised to feel one of my jumpers covering my shoulders and arms. Looking down I noticed I was in my large black jumper, the one I would only ever wear to school when I had dance or performance practise. It was a winter's morning and for some reason I was standing in the woods in just the jumper and a pair of jeans. I could see my blonde hair on my shoulder stopping mid-boob. As weird as it sounds – I can actually tell the difference between the Colorado winters and the English winters based on the wood and the way the snow falls. Obviously when I was at home, on the side of a mountain the snowfall was heavy and consistent for long periods of time, with the snowflakes of a larger mass. If we view the snowflake at a higher resolution you could see the individual molecules of water frozen. The temperature of the snow was also a lot colder, which meant it would stick for longer. I only knew this because of my icy gift meant that I could focus on the minuscule difference in the build up of snow. And because I could do that, I could tell I was in England.

I rolled my eyes, sighing as I knew how this would play out; It's been a while since my last night terror. I thought this would happen, giving the events of today. Every time something big happened, I was forced to witness the events of my childhood. Grumbling slightly about the fact I had to endure another night terror when I had hoped for miracles, I walked down the slight hill of the woods. What I saw was absolutely stunning and picturesque – like an image that could be googled or found of Shutterstock. A mixture of oak trees and other various trees reached from the frozen ground to the sky, their leaves with their own dose of snow. The lower levels of bark had also some snow where there were high winds during the blizzard. In the distance through the tree's I could see cars going the national speed limit on the motorway heading up the M4 towards London, and more important to the three main London airports; London Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead. Christmas day was two days ago, meaning today was the 27th December. One of the days that people travel meaning the roads were quite busy. However, due to the snow storm that had hit, and it being stupidly early in the morning the roads only had a trickle of people on them.

I let my dream projection skid down the snowy slope, jumping to a stop on the hard shoulder. Looking up the road, I couldn't see my parents two cards and knew I must have been early for the occasion. Early for mental torture caused by my own brain! I jogged across the road, amazed at how much ice still remained on the road. It should have been gritted by now – unfortunately luck and good timing wasn't on our side when the crash happened when I was five. The road grit machine that was meant to grit this part of the motorway was in the service station just up the road, the driver grabbing a fast food breakfast meal.

A few minutes later I saw my Dad's blue family driving down the road. My eldest brother, Christopher, was sitting in the front of Dad's car looking at the map trying to find what junction we would have to get off. We were due to visit our Uncle and Aunt and cousins, the Benedict's in Colorado for the New Year. Little did we all know, we wouldn't make the airport.

In a really roundabout way, I was the only one who went to Colorado after the crash.

And then all the sounds hit me at once. Normally there was a delay in my gift when in a dream with the different senses coming at different times. First sight, then sound, then smell and touch. However, they all came together after the sight. The wind that was whipping around in the trees and my fragile frame started to freeze me to the core. I could hear the crunching on the snow where tyres ran over them. There was a strong smell here – manure, petrol fumes and bonfires. There was also that weird quality snow brought. Whenever it snows the world became quiet. The birds refused to tweet, and the light illuminating the street only just about buzzed.

I only saw the crash from this angle, but no. Not tonight. Ladies and Gentleman I will request you to keep your arms and legs inside the projection vehicle at all times as tonight is a night like no other. We are bringing the view of the passengers in the car! All nine of us were piled into the two cars, with our suitcases in the back of each car providing extra weight. I was in the second car, Mum driving us along behind the other car that had the older family members in. Cameron had called shotgun and was now reading through his Golden Key book the school had given him to improve his literacy skills. He was quite smart for an eight year old, so they gave him the top books that was saved for the eleven year olds. Michael and I sat in the back of the car, both of us in booster seats strapped in. Well, Michael was in a booster seat. Because I was so tiny when I was four and a bit I still sat in a child's chair with the padded back. We had the music playing, and I got to call the songs today to calm me before the flight. I wasn't a fan of flying then. I wanted the "Bear in the Big Blue House" sound track to play and I sat grinning in my chair mumbling the words. I loved that show and had memorised all the words. On our family holiday to Flordia last year and to Disney World I was such a fan we saw the live show and I was invited up to sing on stage and I loved every second of it. In my small chubby hands were my two favourite stuffed toys – Giraffe and Kangaroo (those were their names – can you guess what animals they were?)

Mum sat in the chair in front of me, turning around to make sure we were all okay. She looked a lot like me when I thought about it. I had only seen it once before from this perspective a few years ago. Every time my gift made me see this crash I only saw her with herself covered in blood with brains scattered across the asphalt. She ha the same blonde hair I have now with her fringe pinned back, her green-grey hazel eyes. We were going a reasonable speed considering the weather, only averaging at fourty miles an hour. My child self looked out the window, and I always wondered what I was looking at. Turns out, I was looking at myself in various ages in my projection form. And sure enough, all of the me's viewing this moment looked away from this second. I did the same not wanting too see the crash.

But tonight, I had no choice.

There was a turn in the motorway, and the car in front had limited view due to the blizzard that had started to set in. A long, prolonged horn blasted in the distance and the yellow headlight illulimated the road. Dad tried to swerve the cargo lorry, I swear he did try, but it was futile. With no grip on the road, only ice under the tyres, the wheels spun kicking up shushed ice around us all. The cargo lorry with the foreign number plate was driving too fast on down the wrong side of the road and was heading towards us at speeds over 85 miles per hour. We had no hope. Time went slow. The lorry smashed into the front car, pushing it back as it crumpled everyone in on itself. It started to roll backwards, rolling towards our car. The "car" was no longer a vehicle but instead a twisted hunk of burning metal. Mum swerved as well, but thanks to the ice, had a similar fate. Our car barrel-rolled over and landing on its roof, smashing into the concrete dual reservation. Everything blacked out.

The world went silent around me.

I had a feeling of falling into a bottomless pit.

Silence.

Some things are worse silent.

Suddenly, I was back on the scene standing where I normally stood. I stood there, paralused in fear but still managing to shake uncontrollably as I cried. I look on the view of the two heapeds of twisted metal and the fire that was engulfing my parent's two cars. A passerby who managed to stop a few feet behind us climbed out the car and gave a blood curdling scream of fear as she looked on in horror. She turned around and ran to the side of the grass and threw up. Her husband was on the phone to the police, the ambulance, the fire brigade – everyone – but it was too late. The damage was almost done. Most of my immediate family was already dead and it was just a waiting game for the two who was alive – Michael and I.

I propelled my legs forwards, focusing on the first car in the crash. I could see my Dad lying on the tarmac in a pool of blood. I squirmed and turned my back and I swallowed my own vomit. Dad hated wearing a seatbelt – he said it was itchy. Christopher was in the front seat, his body twisted with the metal. He didn't look too bad, apart from the dodgy angle where his spine was probably broke, and the fact he was doused in blood. It didn't matter. He was still dead. Nothing would change that. I couldn't even see my two sisters and my other brother in the back, as the car was crushed on them.

I ran to the other car, sliding on the ice. Mum was lying in the car, hand draped on the floor, but I couldn't even look at her, or Cameron on the other side. He was only eight or so. He was too young to die. _Age doesn't matter when it comes to Death._ I thought. No one deserved to die, though, not like this.

I walked around to the back of the car, where I knew I would find myself and Michael in our booster seats. We were both born small – we were tiny children – which is why we still needed our booster seats at an age where many had grown out of them. I crouched down, and looked in the car. Michael caught my eye. We were hanging perilously from the roof. Well, the car had flipped, so we were still strapped into the chairs but now, we were upside down. I saw Michael twitch slightly, even though he was unconscious. I knew Michael had miraculously got away with just broken bones and a broken family. A few cracked ribs, both of his calf bone were broken and tonnes of bruising and small cuts. He'll be fine though. I braced myself, before looking at me in my blue booster chair. I was unrecognisable. I was barely breathing, the only indication I was still breathing was the slight rise in my chest. Head to toe, I was covered in blood. Legs were stuck in unnatural positions. Swelling had started and my abdomen was rigid, where I was bleeding internally heavily. Giraffe was tucked into my seatbelt, and still remained intact through the crash. I laughed slightly. All this damage, but a cheap toy survived. Miraculously, in the high speed crash which killed seven and seriously injured two, and majorly injured the lorry driver, and in the crash that made two cars unrecognizable heaps of twisted metal and fire, the only thing that still seemed normal was that toy giraffe.

I couldn't help it now – I was full on in silent tears. You can always tell the level of pain someone's in by the type of tears. Full on whaling was mainly for attention, but when someone just cries silently and curls up into a ball – that's pain. That's the pain of not knowing if everything will ever be normal again. That's the crying you see people doing when someone's passes away, or if someone is in danger, or you see your whole family die within seconds.

Ten minutes later, the whole motorway was closed in the junction the crash had occurred. Five white blankets laid on the road, parallel to each other, covering the mangled bodies of my Dad and two brothers and two sisters. Another blanket laid across my mother's body, where she was still slightly trapped in the car. Michael had been removed first, and put straight on a stretcher and transported to the nearest hospital by ambulance. I feel sorry for the two paramedics who were stuck with me – one was a trainee. She looked at me and tried to blink back the tears. Firefighters cut away the metal wreckage from around me, and finally managed to pull me out from the car.

'Broken legs, arm, suspected punctured lung, internal bleeding in the abdomen, her blood pressure is dangerously low. Very faint pulse. This kid is a train wreck. We need her to get to hospital ASAP. Call the air ambulance.' One of the paramedics shouted, running to the ambulance leaving me isolated, and cold, shaking, barely able to breathe.

'Hey, what's your name, little one?' She asked but didn't expect an answer.

I look at the trainee paramedic, who was in front of me, putting on splints, and IV lines. She had long chestnut coloured hair and was barely twenty. Of course, by this point I was already in a coma and barely holding onto life but she was just a student. She didn't need to see this. Other doctors were around me now, doing all kinds of weird procedures. But I knew the student doctor was talking to me just to calm me down. Or she believes that I could see what she was doing. It was almost by some weird quirk of fate that, nearly fifteen years later, which I was. And it was comforting me.

'I'm just going to put this liquid in this, and it'll make you go to sleep for a while, and when you wake up, everything will be better, I promise.' The promise was shallow, and her voice was empty. She knew that if I woke up, I'll be an orphan, with my older siblings and parents killed in a car accident. The trainee paramedic turned away, observing the scene and started crying, before spotting the toy. The air ambulance had now landed on the road, and the paramedics ran over to the stretcher carrying my innate body. But the trainee doctor ran over, and picked up the small toy Kangaroo, and put it on my stretcher. She pushed my blood stained hair out of my face.

'Listen, honey, you're a beautiful and talented toddler, and I know the next few months will be a struggle for you but you have to fight. You have to fight to stay alive. I know you want to go and see Mummy and Daddy up in Heaven, and there is a due time for that, but that time isn't now. You have to live your wonderful long life then see them. Please, honey. Please.' By this time the trainee paramedic was in tears (and I was as well, but not the point) and I realized this was the first accident there has been deaths at.

'It's okay, Ella, it's okay.' I heard someone say and I looked around in the blackness that I had been consumed in. I knew where I was going next but I didn't want to open my eyes. It was inevitable what I would see though.

'I'll be okay. I'll be fine.' I said to myself. But soon, I wasn't alone anymore. I was standing in my own room. It was a few years ago, by the looks of it, as my room didn't have the chalkboard running along the side of the room. Instead, it was just random canvas pictures I had brought from a store in Denver. My room was a mess and it was hard to place anything anywhere. I looked over at the calendar, and saw the year four years ago from this current year and immediately was swamped with guilt. I turned myself around to look at the bed, and sure enough I saw myself in bed. I was a lot skinnier than I was now, and there was a strange tint of grey to my skin. I had a bucket next to my bed, which was washed out. I knew what had happened, and started to shake again. This was two or three days after I attempted suicide. I knew the drill, the events preceding my suicide. Over the last few months, things were getting dark again. I found it hard to cope with school, and everything was crashing down. Of course, when I was fifteen I didn't want to tell Finn and Sara, my Mom and Dad this. Because they thought I was making progress, but I wasn't. In fact, I was destroying the foundations we've managed to make as a family. And I couldn't tell them that. It would break their heart. Not only that, school was getting trickier. I had recently been hired to work with my older brother Kieran in the FBI, and started witnessing major crimes which had started to drown me but whenever I told Kieran I had enough; he pushed me to look deeper into the crimes. It was like I had an anchor around my neck from the pressure, and dumped in the ocean. Of course, I was drowning and I didn't do anything to save myself. Instead, I did something to kill myself. I went home that night, and collected all the painkillers, all the medicines I could find. Most of the medicines were strong – administered to me when I fractured a rib a few months ago, and hid them in my room. I had dinner with the family like I normally do, but retired to bed early. I sat there, writing notes to all of my brothers, and my parents. I had told them I was sorry, but there was no other way out. Then, at one in the morning. I swallowed all of the tablets, and fell asleep praying I wouldn't wake up. I thought it had worked.

It didn't.

Instead, about three hours after I had taken it all, Xav woke up. Xav was a heavy sleeper, so I assumed once he had fallen asleep, his medical senses would zone out. But no – he woke up when he realised something was wrong. He came in to check on me, and thought I was just asleep... that was until he saw the empty trays of pharmaceuticals on the floor. He checked my pulse which was faint but still there. And all shit broke out. My parents were called in, and they got me awake. Xav did something that made me constantly throw up which got the tablets out of my body. I refused to go to hospital. I didn't care. I just hoped they let me die.

So I just lay in bed for the last three days doing nothing. I woke up, threw up, and just laid there in the dark space that was my head. I looked over at my half-dead self. I regret making that decision even to this day. It wasn't the way out, and I can see that now. Doing that, attempting suicide, is never the way out, and if you ever find yourself in that position, see help. Because you can get help. You can.

I started crying again, and ran out of my own room. I, as my projection, walked down the stairs again. On the first floor landing, I could hear voices in the kitchen. It was all very subdue, very calm. I knew they had closed off the water school and ski slope for the next week, and I couldn't even hear the hum of the ski lift, going up the mountain. I slowly walked down the next flight of stairs, and into the kitchen. And sure enough, all my brothers were in the kitchen. My parents stood by the oven on the far side of the kitchen, sipping coffees. They both look drained and like they had been crying. I have never seen this point of view before. My older brothers stood leaning on the worktop on the other side. Will, Xav, Yves and Zed all sat around the table with Michael. No one spoke. It was a very heavy atmosphere. I didn't realise the immediate impact that my attempt had had on my family. After about five minutes, Saul spoke up.

'Michael, did you have any idea that she was this bad?' He asked gently.

Michael, who must have been – I tried to do the maths – nineteen. Everyone said they couldn't place Michael and me as brother and sister if they saw us separately, but they could only see it when we were near each other. Michael was tall, around six foot two (clearly, I didn't pick up the height gene), with a crop of dark brown hair. We had the same green-grey eyes, face bone structure, and the same freckles. Michael had started working for the Savant unit Maui, based in Guildford in England, about a year ago and was still going through training. He was starting to build out with muscles, but currently he was hunched over and seemed like he was defeated. Actually, all of my brothers had that same look. And I could tell most of them had cried at some point in the last few hours.

I didn't realise, I never thought to think, the effect my attempt had had on the boys or on my parents. After doing it, I never thought. And when I got better, I never wanted to revisit that memory. That was, of course, until now. I started to cry again in my projection. I didn't realise how much they cared about me at the time until just now. Michael shook his head.

'She never said anything to me. She was talking to me earlier, before she... you know... but she seemed fine. If I notice, I could have...' Michael whispered, but his voice slowly trailed away. Oh my God. I was a full on mess now.

'You can't blame yourself, Michael. None of us can.' Saul said sternly, putting his arm around Karla's waist.

Silence again. And the silence lasted as well. About five minutes later, you could just about hear the sound of me throwing up, and then starting to cry. Everyone in the kitchen started to look at each other, and then most of the eyes settled on Michael. I remembered when I was laying in bed, half zoned out, my brothers all came up one by one. They gently spoke to me, saying the same things. Each of them told me they loved me, but I could tell they had one question on their mind; why? I couldn't remember them saying this; the week after my attempt was just one fuzzy blur.

But they gave the pointed look to Michael, and he sadly smiled and stood up, walking up the stairs to my room. I slowly followed him, not wanting to see this but I realised my projection wouldn't finish until it did. I guess my brain was trying to make me confront my past in order to move on. Michael stood outside the door for a second, and waited until I finished throwing up. He knocked on the door softly, and walked in.

I was sat on my bed, and I was just amazed by how bad I looked. I looked dead. You could basically see my bones and I lacked the muscles I have now. My hair was greasy and matted, and my cheeks tear stained. I think I had got to the stage I realised I had done something wrong. Michael just walked in and sat down next to me in bed. He looked over at me wincing, putting his arm around my shoulder. I leaned in, still crying.

'Hey.' He gently said, hugging a bit tighter.

'Sorry.' I just whispered, and started to cry again. Michael looked close to tears, but held it together.

'Why did you?' He asked.

'I didn't want to carry on. I'm sorry I didn't think, I'm so sorry.' I only barely heard myself; I don't know how he heard me.

'You could have told us, Ella. You could have just said and we could have helped you. Ella, you know we could have helped you, you didn't have to do this.'

'I know, I just didn't want to bother anyone.'

'For God's sake, Ella, you wouldn't be bothering anyone. This is serious. You don't understand how serious this is. You nearly died. What if Xav didn't find you when he did? What if he didn't make you throw up those pills? You might be comatose or in hospital. You should be in hospital; we need to get your stomach pumped. You might even have to go back to that psychiatric ward.' Michael explained, and my younger self struggled to get out of his hug. I laid back down, pulling the duvet over me.

'I'm not going back.' My moody, bitch of a teenager said. I could see now they were just trying to help, but at the time I didn't want to hear it. Now, I was standing in floods of tears, realising what a mistake I had made. Suicide was never the way out.

'Ella, maybe it's for the best.' Michael whispered.

'Fuck off. Don't say that.' I snapped back, curling back up into my duvet.

'El, please.' Michael said, getting up. He picked up my sick bucket and moved it to one side and sat down by the side of my bed. 'We're only panicking because we love you and we care about you. None of us knew you got this bad. We didn't suspect a thing. I didn't believe it when they called me, but I still flew over. I didn't even realise. How bad of a brother am I, if I didn't even notice my sister was...' His voice completely cracked, and he wiped a tear away.

'You're not a bad brother, I just didn't tell you. I know you care, I just don't deserve that.' But I too was crying. This was the most I had spoken since overdosing. My throat killed to even speak.

'You do, Ella. Your feelings are completely valid. We would have understood if you just told us. We never imagined something like this could have happened. Everyone has just been sitting in the kitchen barely talking, barely moving. Everyone wanted to help you.' He leaned forward, playing with my hair. 'We're all really concern you haven't got up yet.' Michael whispered. I remembered my reaction. Michael had always had a mediating effect on me. It was probably something to do with his gift, even though he promised he doesn't use it on me. I watched as my kid self sat up, pushing off the duvet. Where I hadn't moved in a few days, I was when I stood up and Michael had to catch me from falling over. From there, Michael managed to get me to have a shower whilst he sat outside with the door open; he got me changed and brushed my hair, like we use to do pre-crash. He then gently held my hand as we walked down the stairs. He gently ushered me into the kitchen, where I was completely swamped with hugs from my parents, before it all blacked out again.

Normally, that's where the dream ends. I normally wake up, shaking with a decreased temperature and full on in tears in my empty double bed in Colorado, before having to spend hours calming myself down. I normally have to take some of my calming medicine that had been prescribed to me. But nothing happened. I was completely absorbed in the blackness and I just had to wait for it to fade away again.

And sure enough it did. I was on a plane, standing in the aisle in economy class. To be a bit more precise, I was in the left hand aisle. From here, I could see the man in front of me pulling up the stocks and finalising some reports. The kid to the right and behind was crying as his mother bounced him on his lap. A shadowy fat man walked out from the toilet and I frowned. He looked familiar.

Why did he look so familiar?! I had seen him before... not in Nando's earlier today. But somewhere else. I gasped through my tears as I realised where. He was on the island of Lundy, with the bags for life dragging through the long grass. He was one of the people I saw and straight away felt suspicious off. What was he doing on the plane? I realised with a sinking feeling exactly what he was doing on the plane. A few seconds later, the toilet began to fill with an acrid stink – not the type you'd get if you had some dodgy chicken the night before – and the air hostess ran in.

My perspective changed the events in fast forward. I saw the plane exploded where the shadowy man must have planted a bomb in the toilet (and not from dodgy chicken either), as the pieces fell down onto the middle school during lesson time – killing all on board and all but seven on the ground.

I gasped awake, wiping away tears from eyes. I struggled to get free of the mess I had found myself in needing to go outside and get air and find Joe.

'Ella, hun, it's fine it was just a bad dream.' Joe tried to calm me down, arms wrapped around my waist as I struggled against him, kicking him in my panic. 'It's fine, baby, it's fine.'

'You don't know –' I gasped, finally managing to break free from his arms. I ran over towards the window, opening the lock so I can take a few deep breaths. I frowned as I realised it was day again. I looked over to the clock on the bedside cabinet and squinted against my tears. The clock read 1:09pm. That must be wrong or not working. There was no way in hell that I had actually slept, not just for one sleep cycle – averaging at 90 minutes – but 14 hours? Nah, that was totally wrong.

I crossed my arms, my hands shaking too much. My temperature was so low that I felt light headed and was fairly confident I could have frostbite. My face and hem of my shirt were completely soaked with tears. How embarrassing Joe was seeing all of this – he thought I just had a bad dream.

'Ella, hun,' He gently said, getting up and walking over to me. He stood behind me, looking out across the view like I did. 'I saw everything you did. Somehow, you managed to connect to my brain when we were asleep and I saw everything.' He mumbled wrapping his arms around me. He rested his cheek against the top of my head. 'I am so sorry,' He just whispered, hugging me tighter as I explored all shades of the red spectrum. He was everything I just dreamt of? He saw the crash, my attempted suicide and the plane crash? Oh God – what a way to get someone not to like you.

I opened my mouth to say something to him, anything really, but I couldn't. I was completely embarrassed. I managed to pry his fingers open from around my waist and just ran back to the bed, jumping in the middle and throwing the duvet over me. I wasn't too sure what I wanted to achieve but something will crop up, I guess.

'Ella, listen.' Joe said, sitting down beside me and putting his hand my on my back but didn't bother to move the sheets. 'Seeing these things like you've seen them doesn't put me off you in any way, that's the first thing. It just shows me how strong you really are. You had the courage to keep going time after time when everything knocked you down. You kept going strong, and sure you had your down days but who doesn't. It changes how I see you, yeah, but only for the better. I see you now as someone who's fought all these battles but you're still here, smiling and beautiful. As for the plane crash we know where to look now.'

'You... mean it?' I mumbled pulling down the duvet so I could see him. He was sitting with his legs on the bed, hand resting on my stomach where I had rolled over. He simply nodded and I flung myself into his arms before I started to cry again.

* * *

Bit of a long chapter but it is Ella's back story which is constantly being referred too. Also, for some reason my account is telling me no one is reading this so if you are can you just let me know through a review that these chapters are actually going up? The main question is; do you think Ella and Joe will last and work out all their differences or will something sinister happen to one of them? Let me know! :)


	37. Chapter 37 - Joe

**Chapter 37 – Joe**

'You... mean it?' Ella whispered. She lay in her bed, the bed we shared last night, tucked under the duvets. After her bad dream, I tried to wake her up to calm her down, but the second she was aware of what was happening she just jumped up and ran to the window. Slowly I walked over to coax her calm again. I told her I had seen everything – the crash she was in when she was little I saw like she saw it. Her attempted suicide and her talking to Michael when she was a teenager and then the plane crash. I saw it all. It brought me to the edge of tears. When I told her I saw everything she completely panicked and ran back into the bed, under the sheet. I told her I cared, but it didn't change the way I saw her. Well, that was a lie. I didn't know she had that much strength in her. She attempted suicide but eventually pushed back into existence and thankfully into my life.

Currently he was lying in the bed, duvet pulled down slightly. I was sitting down on the side my hand over her stomach. I nodded; surprised that she would even question that. I guess she kept her past to herself; much like Savant's had to keep their gifts to themselves. I guess that she had to hide it because it made people change their opinion on her. Not me, though. I still liked her so much that it hurt to see her upset.

She flung herself at me, her arms wrapping tight around my neck as I put my arms around her tiny waist, hugging her tightly. She started to cry again, her head buried in my shoulders. I could feel the damp of her tears as she struggled to breathe.

'Ella, it's okay.' I mumbled and she just shook her head in my shoulder. 'No, Ella, it will be fine. I promise you, we'll work something out.' I said, pulling her to sit on my lap hugging her tight. It took another ten or so minutes of me gently coaxing Ella to try and calm down before she finally stopped sobbing.

She sat on my lap, arms still around my neck head draped on my shoulder. I had one arm around her waist, the other on her upper thigh.

'Sorry,' She whispered.

'Don't apologise for having feelings, hun.' I told her, gently touching her face as she smiled slightly

'You really don't care?' She asked me.

'No, Ella, I do are. That's the thing – of course I care. I care for you and I care about you. I just desperately want to know you're okay and you'll always be okay. Of course I care about your past, the crash and your...' I couldn't say it. I couldn't. I couldn't imagine the pain and the mental torture she must have been under for her to do something like that. She flinched when I mentioned the crash and again knowing I would mention her attempted suicide. 'I see what you mean about the plane – you recognised the man, didn't you?'

'Yeah,'

'How?'

'When I was on holiday down here with the girls, I went to this tiny isolated island. He was there, with someone else. They were carrying all kinds of crap in bags. I think I mentioned them yesterday?' She mumbled.

'I think so,'

'If it is we're in shit.'

'Why?'

'That island you can see from the beach? That's the island.' Ella said and I swore under my breath. 'I'll go check it out now,' She offered.

'Hell no you're not. Not when you're like this – cold and tired. It can wait.' I said and she went to protest. I cut off her sentence with a gentle kiss. 'No – I'm not letting you hurt yourself... alright?'

'Mmm... maybe.' She just grinned.

'No, You're not projecting there until tonight, at the best.' I told her and she rolled her eyes.

'What time is it?'

'Half one in the afternoon - you've been asleep for ages.' I explained and she shook her head.

'That's not right, I have insomnia Joe.'

'Ella, hun, I swear to you. You fell asleep about half ten, and you've only just woke up. You were fast asleep.'

'You sure?'

'Yeah, maybe you're getting better. Come on, let's get you some food.' I said, and I straight up picked Ella up. She laughed, protesting slightly as I carried her in my arms to the kitchen. I was always amazed by how light she was even when she was protesting. I kicked open the door to the kitchen, before making her sit on the kitchen counter. She was still in just my long shirts still. I grabbed the sofa throw quickly from one of the primark bags before putting it around her shoulders.

'So what's our game plan?' I asked Ella, standing in front of her, my hands around her waist.

'Depends for what.'

'Either or the bomb, or us.' I ran my hand over Ella's leg.

'Er, bomb – we have to do something about that, we can't just let it happen. And us? We have to do something about that too.' She looked away as she smirked. I smiled at her.

'And what exactly would we do about us, then?'

'I'm thinking stay together is a good idea... if you want too, that is. I don't mind...'

'That's sounds like a very good idea,' I smiled down at her, resting my forehead against hers, grinning down at her.

 _7:28pm_

We both lay down on the beach, completely relaxed in each other's company as the sun started to set. Ella had managed to drag me into the ocean and tried to teach me to swim, laughing as I tried to swim but was just kicking water around. Instead, I just stood just in my depth, so my feet were planted on the sea floor with my head just sticking out as Ella had to swim to keep up with me. Well, it wasn't my fault she was so small. However, she mastered I was terrified of something happening to her and kept going under the water holding her breath as I started to panic that she had drowned she came up behind me hugging me. In the end, we ended up just hugging in the ocean as the sun started to set, her legs wrapped around my waist, her arms wrapped around my neck. We just stood there (well – I stood there. She remained like an octopus stuck to me) talking about everything. I had learnt so much more about Ella in the last few days and had even seen the incredibly sensitive secretive side she held to herself even though it was by mistake. Neither of us could work out exactly what had happened the night previous, but it ended up with me exactly seeing what she had seen from her point of view. It had killed a tiny part of me watching how much pain she had gone through within the last couple of years. But as we stood in the ocean, her starting to shake slightly, we talked out our families and who we like and who we're not fans of. I told her about Randy, my alcoholic brother who's very misogynistic and treats woman like shit and she told me about her brother who pushes her too far to get results in the FBI, but she doesn't overly mind because it helps protect innocent people. However, neither of us really talked about what we would do when this is all over because, truth be told, we didn't know. It was tricky – she had family she was dedicated too in Colorado, and I had family over here. Knowing that when this was over we had to make a decision of what to do when all of this was over made things a lot harder. Would we stay together and decide to get our own flat or house and work through everything or would we just drifted apart. I knew that I didn't want to leave her after all this had happened but she told me that she already had her ticket for her flight back to Colorado that they could just roll the dates back on. I knew I would fight to keep her with me.

'God, you accused me of overthinking,' Ella joked, laying down on the beach mat. She had her arms under her head in just a bikini, and it revealed the multitude of scars across her ribcage and stomach. She was skinny, though, and I frowned. She looked over, noticed that I was looking and sat up to put a jumper on. 'I don't like people judging my scars,' she just mumbled.

'No, I wasn't judging.' I said, sitting up managing to stop her by pulling her to my side. 'How did you get all of them?'

'Various missions, quite often people fight back and if you're quick enough you can dodge the knife but not all the time. Most of these were from different people, or me walking into things.' She explained, 'and I'm only skinny because I don't really sleep – well, that was until what ever happened this morning. I don't really eat as well unless someone forces me too.'

'Er, what do you mean by you don't eat?'

'Especially recentless I just feel constantly sick or full, especially when I'm under stress or a lot of pressure. I only ever pick at things that are small, like boiled sweets, but never proper meals. When I'm working, Michael or whoever I'm with in Colorado normally has to cook me stuff and sit there watching me to make sure I eat or I just forget,'

'You haven't really eaten since we got here, have you?' I asked, realising that she only had a tiny bit of cereal earlier and we had missed lunch being down here. Yesterday, we had Nando's and some bacon. She must be starving by now.

However, I managed to persuade her that she had managed to sleep through the night. After I had taken to bed, and she asked for me to stay she fell asleep in my arms in seconds. I had kept waking up in the night, completely new to the whole sharing-a-bed-with-your-girlfriend thing. Not only that I was scared she would just leave, but sure enough every time I woke up, she was still laying down in bed with me deep asleep. I remembered at half five, the last time I had woke up with her, she was still laying on my chest but a bit of hair had fallen across her face. I gently moved it, tucking it back behind her ear as she smiled in her sleep. She said it as a fluke, but I wasn't too sure.

'I'm not hungry,' she said, laying back down on the beach.

'Well, we can go out for dinner then – down a pub or something.' I said, rolling onto my side as she looked at me, her wet hair tied back.

'I'm not a big drinker,' She said.

'Fairly confident you didn't say that last time you were around alcohol,' I joked, remembering the party. I couldn't really speak, either. She just laughed, shaking her head before rolling over and kissing me. 'Well we can just get some chips and a Coke and go sit on the beach and watch the sun set. Like a cheap date.'

'Yeah, I'd like that – can we go down to Bude again?'

'Of course, hun, anything for you.' I whispered and I knew that I would do anything for her now. When Jake told me time and time again he would do anything for Leannah, I never believed him. I thought it was him taking on the social cues that were deemed on him especially by her family. But now, seeing Ella grin as she got up, a slight crease across her stomach appearing as she jumped up before pulling me up too.


	38. Chapter 38 - Ella

Chapter 38 – Ella

 _8:17pm, the same day_

I sat down on Widemouth beach, smiling at the gentle sea as the tide had started to go out. I was sitting on my jacket in just a pair of shorts and a thin camisole shirt as Joe had gone to the small pub behind us to get the food. It was safe enough here to let me stay on the beach by myself, and even if something did happen Joe, and the car, was only a hundred meters away, and all across dry sand. I could make it back to the car in about fifteen or twenty seconds.

The sea had the same affect it always did on me; strangely calming. Almost like nothing would hurt me. I had always found the tranquillity of the waves calming and picturesque. But I could never live here, or by the beach though. I would be too calm, and if you're too calm all the time you can danger yourself to stupid moves. However, yearly holidays would just be supreme. I sucked my teeth slightly, thinking back to what Joe saw yesterday on the beach. Me, running around on the beach with a little girl. She called me Mummy, so she was my daughter. I could even see the similarities to me and Joe as well, but I don't think he could. So the little girl running around on the beach who tackled me into the waves was _our_ daughter. Even though it wasn't certain, and Joe said there was a little chance of that event coming true it seemed to settle in my brain that I could go on one day – not now, too much going on to even comprehend discussing having a child – to have a child of my own made me incredibly happy.

It wouldn't be recent, though, if we did have a kid. The implant in my arm had another two years left on before it expired and I couldn't take it out. Maui wouldn't be overly happy if when the time came and we decided we wanted a kid as it makes the paperwork ten times trickier to fill in and the restrictions that came down was stupid. I could understand, it was best for the baby, but still the "no running over 400m" line killed me off every time. So no, the child wouldn't be around for quite a few years. Even then, I don't think I would have the talk that came with having a child. It seemed quite awkward even if you're madly in love and want that next step of a commitment. Let alone telling people – that seemed my worst nightmare. Telling people you basically had unprotected sex and got pregnant to have people stare at your body and touch your belly every time they see you for nine months seemed like literal Hell. I would probably be one of those people who just hide inside for who knows how long until the baby was born and let the kid do the announcing themselves.

I frowned at myself, completely unaware of the daydream I had managed to get myself into. I never knew where I stood with the whole parenthood thing – I loved looking after kids and was even told time after time I was good with them but I could hand them back to their rightful owners, like someone handing over a lost puppy to the delighted family. But how would I react when I couldn't give the baby back when it started crying and wouldn't stop. I could just give it to Joe. Joe with kids was an absolute beauty to watch. He is so good with kids.

Before we went down to Cornwall I had a few things I left at base – and so did the girls – so I said I'd go in and collect them all at a stupid time in the morning. I drove myself into base, using Michael's card to clock in and out of the base, before parking up. No one noticed it was me – I had some jogging bottoms on, a running jacket with the hood up covering my greasy, unshowered and matted hair and had even decked the look with sunglasses. I wasn't meant to be back here, but I only remembered the small bag I left in my locker with some personal belongings the day of the interview and it was unfair to wake Michael up at half four to run in to get them for me. I was more than capable of doing it myself. As I walked across the floor at base, I noticed someone sitting on one of the tables- not the stool the actual table – with a baby. It took a moment more staring to realise it was Joe, feeding one of the twins. Shit – he would definitely recognise me. He's not stupid, and especially after the party. So I went to the wall behind him to creep around behind so he wouldn't see me. As I walked slowly, I could hear him talk to his niece in his arms, calming her down. I can't remember exactly what he was saying but it was so heartfelt that my ovaries practically dissolved right there and then. I quickly ran into the locker room, grabbing Crystal's vanity bag and my own tote bag, before throwing it over a shoulder and making my way out again. When I came back out, the baby was asleep in Joe's arms and he was gently singing to her. I literally was a walking puddle. I knew then his Soulfinder was lucky when they had kids and it took a while for it to click his Soulfinder was me. And at that moment in time, I was so stuck up my own ass thinking the correct idea was to leave him that I discarded the thought immediately. Now, I regretted every moment I didn't spend with him. If I told him when I first saw him, perhaps all of this could have been avoided.

'Chips and Pepsi, madam,' Joe joked, hitting my arm gently to get me to move up. I scooted down my jacket slightly so he could sit on it too as he handed me the polystyrene carton and the good old English fish and chip forks. I leant against his arm.

'Sorry for not telling you we're Soulfinder's earlier, Joe.' I mumbled, opening the carton so the steam was released. Joe had asked for salt but no vinegar – he already knew the way I liked my takeout chips.

'It's cool, you had your reasoning. All that matters is we're together now, yeah?' He replied and I nodded. 'I've never understood how you use these forks...'

'You stab and eat.' I demonstrated and he looked slightly bemused.

'Must be an American invention.'

'I haven't seen one of these in America in ages – they're British.'

'I dunno, I haven't really had fish and chips in years. I only once picked up one of these for art...' He trailed off, the last word of his sentence blowing away in the sea breeze.

'You did art?'

'Yeah, girly, I know.' He automatically defended himself.

'Nah, it's a universal subject which hasn't been defined to a gender. It's not girly, and it's definitely not gay. If it's what you enjoy and what you liked then you should have done it regardless of gender.' I explained.

'I bet your brothers loved you,' He joked back, elbowing me slightly.

'It's the way I see things, and the way I explained it to them when they said riding motorbikes to school was manly, and doing kick boxing and karate for eight years was for boys. I always got bullied for doing boy subjects, but I whipped peoples asses at engineering and IT, all whilst being in the schools' musical.' I explained and Joe nodded at me.

'You're musical?'

'Well, my family is. I never really liked singing, but I'm alright at a few instruments.'

'Few instruments?' He digged deeper, nudging my arms when I didn't eat the chips. If I wasn't careful he would start feeding them too me. I took a bite of the chip, the warmth filling me. God, these are good chips.

'Cello mainly. Ukulele, piano, guitar, violin. Drums. Whatever we had laying around the house I taught myself to play. Having insomnia is hard work, but having a soundproof bedroom with these types of instruments lying around was cool. Obviously I didn't have a piano and a drum kit in my room. I wasn't overly well behaved at school. I used to walk out of my lessons frequently. I was normally the only girl in the class and when you're the only girl in the "bad boy" family, you get quite a few misogynistic quotes thrown at you. Even the teachers find themselves telling you off for arguing whilst letting the "lads" get away with telling you to get back to the kitchen. I always used to storm out of lessons. Zed wasn't much better before he found Sky – whenever he got pissed off and left they used to call me out to chase after him. Most of the time when I left I found myself either in the library or down in music. I used to learn songs, never the actual keys or anything, just songs to calm me down.' I explained, pausing slightly as I realised I was just blabbering now.

'I used to do the same thing, I guess.' Joe continued, looking out at sea. 'In year ten and eleven, I used to be in a group of Lads. I've only ever had one good friend, Jason,' I nodded, knowing his name. 'and he was close with them so I tagged along. I hated it, my gift meant I could read all of their thoughts and it was painful. They never were taught to treat all genders with the same level of respect and they were so testosterone filled it was horrific. When I was stuck without Jason, they used to drive me insane. I hated it. So I used to bunk or leave lessons and go to the art room. I was close with the teachers and even the Principle was okay with me leaving if I got wound up to go into the arm room and paint or just do work. The Principle was a Savant as well, so I told him everything and he gave me special access and would just allow me to do my thing if it wasn't bad. I used art as a means to escape everything. It sounds bad, but I couldn't control my gift until I was at least eighteen,'

'I can't control my gifts now.' I butted in and he frowned at me. 'Well, I can do it when I want but if I'm just somewhere like getting a coffee with friends or something, I can just get really cold suddenly or if I'm at Maui and I can start using people's gifts and I never mean too. It's embarrassing but...'

'No one can really blame you though, you're such a powerful Savant,' Joe said, our sides touching. It was comforting.

'Still,'

'Stop putting yourself down, hun.' He said, looking over at me, his eyes a wonderful bright blue colour against his shirt. I guess he had those eyes that could change colour based on emotion or whatever he is wearing. I assumed he was happy by the way his eyes were shining. I just shrugged. I guess it was normal for me to put myself down.

'Why is it normal to put yourself down? I know it sounds cliché so don't pull out that card this time, but I don't see anything you need to put yourself down for. From the seconds I saw you in that interview room, you were absolutely beautiful. You took my breath away. I never wanted to look away, you were just... stunning. And then you were just so smart and intuitive, but kind and caring at the same time. You know, since then, I've never been able to forget you. The night at the party was one of the best days of my life because I just got to spend time with you. This evacuation, even though it's for a dark reason, has been brilliant because I've found you. You're everything to me and we've only known for, what, just over a day. But I can't imagine living a life without you. I don't think there's any reason for you to put yourself down.' Joe told me and I couldn't help but look down and blush. Even though deep down inside my brain it was hinting that he was just lying there was something deeply sincere about what he was saying.

'Joe?'

'Yeah?'

'This sounds really stupid, but I don't want this –' I gestured between us 'just to be a holiday thing, God listen to me changing my mind all the time,' I laughed hollowly, drawing my knees to my chest as I put down the empty chip carton next to me. Joe tutted slightly, putting his arm around my shoulder.

'Ella, you are adorable – you know that.' He simply said, kissing my forehead as I let him hug me. 'We'll make this work, okay? I know full well my family will love you.' He said and I smiled gently. 'Half of them already do,' He added. I had no idea how Jake would react when he found out. He was like my older brother to me, and we always had each other's back especially in the recent years.

'I dunno how my family will react,' I owned up.

'No?'

'Joe... you know the thing known as the "older brother talk", I think you're gunna have to sit through eight variations of that.' I simply said tracing a pattern on his thigh as he groaned.

'They're going to kill me, aren't they?'

'Er, debatable. I dunno – when the boys found their Soulfinder's it was all okay but I'm the only girl. They all wanted to punch my ex when he tried to take me home when he was thoroughly pissed and then tried to hit me,' I explained and Joe's reaction was immediate.

'He did what?'

'It was like two years ago –'

'He tried to hit you?'

'He was totally pissed, I could manage him myself, it's fine.'

'Ella, it's not fine, who is this bastard?' He snapped and I leaned back so both of us were lying down on the beach staring at the amber sky.

'You know, I'm not too sure if you're going to get the brotherly talk. You seem just as protective of me as they are,' I simply commented, yawning.

'Are you tired? Come on, we've finished our chips and the suns practically down, let's get you home,' He said, sitting up before taking my hand and pulling me up to sit with him. I never wanted this too end. It seemed like a small fragment of heaven I was living in.

But my gut dropped when I realised this could all be blown to pieces if we just let the bomb happen. How could we live knowing we did nothing to help the hundreds of innocent people who would die under our pretend ignorance? People wouldn't know we knew, but in the end we would. We would know that we just sat around making out or whatever when innocent families said their goodbyes to each other for the last time. Parents who would never see their kids again, brothers and sisters split up. Best friends who would never get to go on their dream holiday. I couldn't let it happen. But I couldn't drag Joe into this, either. If he got hurt I would just blame myself. I don't care if I get hurt or die, because what's my life worth compared to the hundreds of others? I couldn't let Joe get hurt.

By the time we got off the beach, I had my own plan which I knew Joe wouldn't be overly happy with (as he wasn't involved and wouldn't find out until I had left) but I had to do it sooner rather than later. I had to do it tonight.


	39. Chapter 39 - Ella

**Chapter 39 – Ella**

 _2:52am_

Sleep tried to pull me into its grasps but I stayed awake as the night trailed on until I was so fidgety I had to get up. Joe and I had shared the same bed again in my bedroom at the top end of the bungalow, his arm around my waist as I laid on my side on his chest. I felt incredibly sad, and stupid, I was coming up with a ludicrous plan to do by myself with no assistance in the middle of the night, but I know I'd rather do this than risk anything happening to my family or to Joe. I cared about him enough not to get him involved. If, or more likely when, he found out he would probably kill me but I am just doing it to protect him.

Silently, I closed my eyes and pictured the desolated island off Lundy, where I had seen the men with the Karrimor Bags for Life walk in. When I opened my eyes, I was projected onto the island. My brothers and parents always said using your gift became easier when you've met your Soulfinder and strangely enough it did feel a lot easier. Before, it was quite a draining task to do these land hops, but now it felt like I had just slipped into a melancholy daydream. Standing on the edge of the island in my just a jumper and fleece pyjama bottoms – maybe not the most fashionable statement but it was so comfy I couldn't care less. The warehouse was still on the uninhabited island, and infact it had grown and had more built to it. When I was there the last time, it was just some corrugated metal hammered into a wooden frame but now, it was a proper building. The walls had been constructed with those ugly grey cinder blocks that all modern buildings have now, and it took up quite a lot of room on the small island and was over two floors high. In the background, there was a small outhouse made from the exact same material. So, this was where I thought they were making the bombs and coordinating the attacks. It didn't look too promising and it was not what I pictured when news reports say that "extremists planned in their own hideouts". Strangely enough, I always pictures the hide outs as little attic rooms, people sitting cross legged on the floor freezing making plans over a wooden crate turned upside down. I couldn't tell if the cinder block and corrugated metal shell was any better.

I crept forward to the door of the warehouse, which was left ajar. Stupid mistake to start with. I slid through, careful not to touch the sides just in case it made a noise. When I entered the warehouse I was amazed by how light and dark it was at the same time. A light grey concrete floor covered the entire warehouse, with cheap lighting fixtures swaying haphazardly in the breeze. In the left hand corner at the opposite end of the building was a door, leading to what looked like a staircase for the offices upstairs. On the back wall, a large map of the world with planned routes and everything sketched on. I jogged over to the wall, giving the items on the floor a wide berth.

On closer inspection of the map, I could see the dotted blue line of the aircraft that the bombs were planted to and the airplane code. It had some coded words, which looked like a memory code for a file on the computer where the tickets must have been stored. Down the side of the map, where a large drop of wallpaper hung so the white was exposing out, they had written everything about Joe, Annie and I. Annie wasn't as much as a threat as she had completely disappeared off radar. They were still hunting closely for Joe and I, though. I frowned, but they had no idea where we were staying. I had hope, then. Maybe the safe house was completely safe after all.

'I think I found them!' A man ran into the warehouse, pausing before running up the stairs. I ran after him, managing to slide through the open doors when he opened them. The staircase was just dark, with only an LED light providing a patch of light in the stairwell. He ran out into a narrow hallway and into a small room.

The small room must be where they all stayed. It had two sets of bunk beds, a desk in the corner along with a chest of draws. It had a window, too, which looked across the ocean which was restless. A storm was coming. The man who ran in stood for a second out of breath. He was quite skinny and lanky, with greying skin of a heavy smoker and had the matching yellow finger tips too. He held a piece of paper in his hand.

'Guys, I think I found where they are!' he repeated, and the two men in the bunk bed slowly started to shake awake. The fat man on the bottom bunk sat up, hitting his head comically on the metal frame of the bed before rubbing it. God, they were like pathetic super villains in children's movies.

'What is it, Madrid?' The fat man asked the skinny man with the paper. Was his name really Madrid?

'I think I found where Ella and Joe are – and they're close by!'

'How do you know it's them – we don't know what the boy looks like, just the girl from a news paper report a few months ago! Madrid – you better have good proof for waking me up this time in the morning you fucker.' The fat man crudely said but I started to panic.

'I saw them down in Bude at night, they brought chips and had them on the beach and I put a tracker on the bottle of coke they had, like you said boss. I tracked the signal, and it's in the middle of no where, just a little holiday cottage. I asked our man inside Maui, and he managed to hack into the computer data and it's where they're being kept. It's the safe base! They are our biggest threat for this not happening at the moment.' Madrid explained in a quick voice.

'Yes, I know that. All of this to show our hate for the Net. We'll leave tomorrow morning, head down there and kill them both. That'll leave a bitter taste in the family of them both. That'll teach the Benedict's and the Matthews' never to mess with our family again.'

'Shouldn't we go now?' Madrid asked, lurking in the door as if he didn't quite know where to go. Should he run and head off alone or go to bed like the fat man and the guy above him in the top bunk who had already fallen back asleep.

'No, they won't know. We'll get the first ferry back to town in the morning and drive down. Get some kip, Madrid, we have a busy day tomorrow by the sounds of it-'

I quickly cut off the projection shaking in the bed. We needed to get out asses out of here. My original plan of going to the island and taking the bombs and throwing them out to sea was now completely dissolved. This was a lot bigger now. The safe base wasn't safe at all.

'Joe,' I said, shaking him as he made a weird noise. 'Joe, wake up.'

'Ella, what's up hun?' He asked, opening one eye sleepily to look at me.

'We have to get out of here right now, pack everything we have to move.' I ordered, turning on the light telekinetically and jumping out of bed pulling out the monstrosity of the camping bag they sent us down with.

'Ella, what's up?' Joe repeated, confused.

'I did something you will yell at me for but thank God I did.'

'You could not be more cryptic if you tried, just tell me hun. I won't get annoyed.' Joe simply said, watching me from where he was lying. I guessed he thought I had a bad dream. Uh, now how to explain this without getting him to hate me.

'I projected over the island just now to see if I was right, and I was. One of the men had put a tracking device on the bottle of coke you brought, which is now in the kitchen and they know exactly where we are. They have someone working inside Maui who confirmed it was us and they are heading over here tomorrow morning to kill us both off to get revenge on our family, Joe, which is why we have to haul our asses and leave now.' I quickly explained. Joe's reaction was immediate. He jumped up out of bed, in nothing more than a pair of trunks and looked at me in horror but I saw the slight look of betrayal.

'Ella, you said you wouldn't use your gift when I'm not around in case something happened,' He said.

'Yes, I know I did.'

'Why?'

'I was going to leave tonight to try and stop the bombs so you don't get hurt.' I muttered.

'That is the most stupid thing I've ever heard, Ella!'

'I don't care, Joe, I really don't. I was doing it to protect you. But thank God I did or I wouldn't know that someone's coming over in the morning to kill us.' I shouted back, as Joe walked over to me. He was shaking he was so angry. He raised his arm slightly and I flinched, turning my back to him slightly. He dropped his arm immediately and picked up a slightly softer look.

'Why did you flinch?' he whispered as I turned to walk away. 'Ella? Did you think I would hit you?'

'No,' true answer; maybe. I knew he wouldn't but I've been working with secret services long enough to know when people are angry they do things they would regret. Psychical violence is one of those things. Joe quickly wrapped his arms around me as I started crying in my chest.

'I'm annoyed at you for making a stupid plan that could have got you in all kinds of serious situations, or killed, without even discussing it with me. I thought we were a team, but I was wrong. I'm annoyed that you pretended to be asleep for hours before doing it but that doesn't mean I hate you. But thank God you did what you did, because you're right. We need to get out ass out of here.' He told me, playing with the ends of my hair. 'Has someone hit you before?' He gently asked and I didn't reply.

'Ella, who hit you?'

'It's no one you know,' I murmured starting to shake. Joe quickly grabbed a jumper – who's sweatshirt was who's now had blurred lines – and wrapped it around my shoulders.

'So someone has?'

'Look, Joe, it was a while ago, it's nothing to worry about. We have bigger fish to fry at the moment.' I simply mumbled, leaning down slightly to pick up the giant travellers backpack and opening one of the compartments. I know I shouldn't make excuses for the time my ex had hit me but he was completely off his tits and taking illegal substances. I told him it was over (which was the plan all along – sounds bad on my part but it was just to prove that I was social and could leave my house if I wanted too,) and he got annoyed. I walked out of the party, which was in Denver near Will's flat. He told me I could crash there (by crash, we both meant me sitting around watching the TV or playing on my laptop for hours). So it was about half one in the morning, I had only had a beer or two to drink but my ex had drunk considerably more. He followed me down the street, shouting abuse at me. I turned around, and told him to leave me alone. My temperature had started to dip dramatically and it told me I was scared. In a second, I would have no choice but to call Will to help me get this prick off my tail. As I told him to leave, he smacked me straight around the face. Just like that. There was no preparation, no sign of aggression. Just a full force slap across the face. I was shocked, but had to resist the urge to show any aggressive tendencies. I simply turned around, face on fire against the winters wind, as I walked up the last street to Will's flat. He carried on following me.

 _Will, you up?_ I gently asked him telepathically.

 _Of course, what's up sis?_ He replied near enough immedietly.

 _Uh, are you in the mood for a fight?_

 _Of course, what's up?_ He repeated, and I smiled to myself.

 _Dickhead of an ex is currently following me back to your and has just hit me. I'm on the big hill near yours._

 _One moment._ He told me, and kept me on the telepathic line but didn't speak to me. I was so confused as to what he was doing. However, all my questions were answered about two minutes later when he came out of the flat, quickly stopping to assess the state of me. He then walked straight past me, yelling at my ex before punching him in the face with no hesitation.

I love my brothers.

That night he stayed up with me, making me refreeze the ice pack to hold on the side of my face. But that was where my immediate reaction to signs of violence came from. Sure, you do get hit and threatened violence against you when you're on missions and I've been hit a few times but it's more of a combination which was why I flinched when Joe raised his arm.

'It was your ex? I'm going to kill him,' Joe said.

'Okay, that anger is good. Can we use that anger against the people trying to kill us, rather than the ex who punched me a year back?' I simply said.

'We're not finished talking about this, or what you tried to do Ella, but yeah. Should we just pack up everything, throw it in a car and head to a hotel or B and B, then?' He asked and I nodded.

'I guess,'

'Okay,' He said, walking out of my bedroom down into his room. I heard a door slam close, and I collapsed into a pile on the floor, bringing my legs up to my chest as I started to cry. Joe was annoyed at me, and he got so annoyed that my body thought I was a threat. I was so emotional and so... drained that I couldn't think properly. There was an agonising pain in my stomach all of a sudden, and I curled up even more as the tears continued.

'Where did we put the – Ella? Ella!' Joe walked back into my room, wondering where I had disappeared too and then must have seen me curled up on the floor. He ran to my side, sliding a hand under my legs and the other around my shoulders, picking me up and putting me on his lap when he sat on the edge of the bed. 'I didn't mean to seem annoyed, I was just scared.'

I just sat there sobbing, knowing full well he must be so pissed off with me. I was annoyed at myself. But Joe must be using his gift on me because the thought of him being annoyed and might just walk out completely vanished with no trail.

'Ella, really, I'm not annoyed at you and I won't walk out either. I was just terrified you put yourself at risk without any form of safety net. You said earlier you wouldn't use your gift unless it's safe, and now you're freezing to death again. You also said you were just going to leave me here when you would put yourself in grave danger trying to attempt things alone. I thought we were a team and we would do things together. You said we'd find a way out of this, not I'd find a way to get us both out of this. I was just so scared that you'd hurt yourself, El, I couldn't let that happen. I have no idea why you'd think I'd walk out though, because that's never going to happen. What's wrong, though?' Joe explained as I nodded along. I expected him to feel hurt that I would do this alone and I had expected him to completely flip off. I just didn't realise it would be so soon. But the cramps in my stomach were continuing and at a completely new pain scale – quite a few times worse than period cramps.

'I dunno,' I muttered, out of breath from the pain as he put his hand over my stomach.

'Is it... like... lady stuff?' He awkwardly muttered and I laughed but it sounded hollow.

'No, I'm on the implant. I don't really have periods.'

'What's that?' He asked and I rolled my eyes. I put out my arm as he stared at me like I was an idiot. I grabbed his hand and put it ontop of my bicep where the little device sat. He touched it as it rolled around slightly. 'No seriously, what is that?'

'It's a form of contraceptive. Maui makes you go on it to clear paperwork. So nah, it can't be period pains. I have no idea what it is.' I told him, curling into his side.

'Right, you lay here and get some rest and I'll pack everything,' Joe told me, picking me up again slightly to lay back in the bed.

'No, I'll be fine.'

'No, you're staying there and sleeping, alright? I can pack down everything.' Joe simply said, pulling the duvet over me on my elected side of the bed. He grabbed the incredibly soft owl blanket I had brought from Primark and put it over me as well before kneeling at the side of the bed. 'Ella, you look absolutely shattered. I know it's hard, but try and relax and get some rest. Do you trust me?' He asked.

'What... of course I trust you,' I mumbled back sleepily, looking over at him. He looked like some kind of fallen angel with his dark brown hair all puffed up, his eyes brimming with concern. I can't believe I was so close to losing him forever in my naive ignorance I would ruin him. It was still a massive fear of mine but now it seemed less likely now.

'Do you trust me to get everything packed down in the house, shove them into the holdalls and get them in the car before morning or as soon as I can?'

'Yeah, of course.'

'Okay, so you can relax now. You've always been struggling by yourself for so long, not wanting to rely on other people in the fear it might hurt them. I think it's time you stopped that and started reaching out and trusting people.' He simply said. I looked at him as he brushed the hair out of my face, his other arm leaning on the bed with his fingers brushing my wrist. As the exhaustion of the last few days swamped me I realised something. I had fallen in love with Joe.


	40. Chapter 40 - Joe

Chapter 40 – Joe

 _4:51am_

I quickly ransacked the draws in my room once more, double checking I had left nothing anywhere. Whilst the attack to come to the house seemed unlikely, and the attack to come and kill us also did seem stupidly unlikely, I trusted Ella with my life. Even though what she had done was completely stupid and was risky to her, I was glad she had found out about the potential attack. It seemed even more likely considering how panicky she had got about it too. She normal hid emotions fairly well, but when she woke me up in a complete panic nearly crying, I knew something was up and it was something that was upsetting her deep down. As I cleared the drawers, only leaving the complimentary Bible (?) in the drawer, I walked over to the wardrobe, taking out some of the shirts that remained hung up, putting them in the top compartment of the traveller's bag. Even if the threat was literally just a threat, it was worth leaving for a few days and coming back again if nothing had happened. I wouldn't risk Ella to anything that could hurt her.

My entire room was clear now, so I picked up the backpack and left it by the front door. I had done the sweep of the lounge and the kitchen and all our belongings were now in a large black holdall by the door, full to the brim as well. All that was left to do was Ella's stuff.

I've been packing for just over an hour now, and have heard no signs from Ella. I only assumed that she had fallen asleep in that time. Slowly, I crept back into her room, opening the door. Sure enough, she was curled up on the bed in near enough the same position she fell asleep in whilst I sat next to her, gently brushing her hair which fell across her face until she drifted off. I think I had finally figured her out.

It was clear she didn't overly care about herself in situations that could lead to her death. She would rather people live and continue their lives and she would do anything she could to ensure that. She cared more about me than she did about herself. I was annoyed that she didn't tell me about the plans, and the concept that she would just run off in the middle of the night in what appeared as a suicidal mission but she only did it to keep me safe and to hopefully stop the plane bombs ever happening. She was so devoted already, and it was just amazing.

An hour later, all of our bags were by the door fully packed. Every single cabinet and wardrobes was stripped down as to how we found the place. The only sign that we had ever been here was Ella, still asleep on the bed. She had grabbed a bit of the duvet and was hugging it to her chest, her other hand under the pillow. I sat down on my knee's next to the bed.

'Ella, hun,' I gently said, my hand on her shoulder. She surfaced slightly but only to burrow into her pillow a bit more.

'It's time for us to leave,' I said, and she opened one eye, squinting at me.

'Do you have any idea where we can go?' Ella mumbled, and I got up to sit on the side of the bed.

'No idea,' I said.

'Then we have time, get on in.' Ella quietly joked still half asleep. She rolled over to pull me into bed beside her, and as I gave no resistance I rolled over, laying down next to her. The next second she was laying on her side, hugging her tummy. 'Ow,' She moaned, curling into a ball. Concerned, I rolled over and hugged her.

'What's wrong, baby?'

'Really bad stomach ache, almost like period pains but... without the impossible aspect of period pains.'

I hugged her to my chest, kissing her neck. I hated seeing her in pain. I don't think she anted to admit how much pain she was actually in from her stomach ache, but I could see it. The way her face was sitting and her eyes screwed shut and the single tear running down her face. I quickly wiped the tear away.

'Do you want me to go and get some painkillers?'

'I feel so crap, Joe.' Ella whimpered.

'Stay here, give me a second.' I said, darting out of bed. I jogged down the hallway scared for Ella when it could just be as simple as period pains. But I never had to deal with things like this. The only two females in the house was Mum and Carley. Mum's womb collapsed – whatever that meant – after having me. Handy, as I was the seventh child so she didn't need to worry about having any more and even though Carley spoke to us all about lady problems to try and break the taboo, and I was alright talking about it, I was just clueless when it came to dealing with it.

I bent over to undo the side pocket of one of the Nike gym sacks, finding out a pack of ibuprofen. I then ran into the kitchen, pouring some tap water into a glass before taking them back into Ella. She was still lying on her side curled into herself.

'Here,' I said, holding her hand to pull her up. I sat in front of her as she popped open the tablet tray, taking out two small sugar coated pulls before swallowing them both. 'You wanna get up?' I asked and she nodded as I pulled the duvet off her. My mouth dropped as I saw the sight.

Blood completely covered her from the waist down, including on the bed sheets and duvets. She hadn't appeared to notice it, but I did. She had got changed into a pair of grey shorts before she went to bed, but you couldn't tell what colour the material was.

'Ella...' I went on to explain but she caught my glance and looked down.

'What the... oh my God.' She said, jumping out of bed.

'This isn't normal, is it? Like... periods don't do this, right?'

'No...'

'I know you probably don't like hospital's but I'm taking you there.' I explained, holding her to one side of me. She had started to panic, her breathing increasing rapidly and shaking. Her temperature had also started to drop.

'Woah, hey, calm down. I'm sure it's fine, Ella. Ella? Are you listening?' I gently asked her as she continued to stare off into a point in the distance, shaking. 'Ella?'

'What have I done?' She mumbled.

'You haven't done anything wrong. Come on, let's get you cleaned up.'

It took over an hour to get her coaxed into the bath I had filled for her to get her cleaned up. Ella appeared to be in a state of shock and was so confused and I wasn't far behind. What had happened in the hour she had been asleep – she had been completely soaked in blood but had no visible cuts or anything. She protested when I sat next to her in the bath, making sure she remained conscious and was talking to me the entire time. I then got out some new clothes for her – a pair of jeans, a baggy shirt and a jumper and changed her. One of the tests to pass into Maui was a medical test which included how to get someone in shock out of a dangerous situation. However, I feel like dragging Ella along wouldn't be a good idea for anyone. Not for her, or for me, or for our relationship. So I had to gently coax her to do small things when she kept staring off into a random point and not talking, or when her temperature just dropped. Ella seemed a bit too quiet for my likings though, so I just guessed she was overthinking things.

'We got everything?' I asked her as I did the final run around of the house, checking all cupboards and drawers one last time. Ella just stood leaning against the wall by the door. As far as we were both aware the bleeding, wherever it had came from, had stopped.

'I think so,' she mumbled. 'Joe, I had an idea.'

'What's that?'

'You know at the party... we, you know. What if...'

'Ella, hun, you're just overthinking now. Come on,' I said to her, picking her up in my arms, telekinetically opening the door to the passenger side before placing her in the chair.

'Why aren't I driving?'

'I'm not letting you drive in a state like this, hun, no way. I know you absolutely hate people driving for you –'

'I trust you,' She simply whispered, catching my eye. 'I hate it, but I trust you. I trust you more than Michael. I never let him drive me places, but you can. I trust you.' She whispered. I leant forward and kissed her. She smiled for a second before her eyelids fluttered shut and she fell asleep again. I clicked on her seatbelt, slowly closing the door so it locked shut before opening the boot of the car, telekinetically filling it with the six or so holdalls we have as I looked out across the view. It had just turned half five and the sun had started to rise in the fields behind us, causing a brilliant sunrise casting long beams of light across the cliffs and the ocean as it gently waved. It had no disturbance and wouldn't know the events of today. After all, it was just a mass of water and knew no harm. It knew no difference between love and pain, and I don't think I did either.

When I first met Ella, I knew she was perfect. I never thought that we could be together because she seemed to good to be true. She was so inspirational and stunningly beautiful on so many levels. Not only that, the dates didn't add up either. I had no idea that if one person was premature and the other was late it could lead to a birth difference of over two months. The way she acted made me think that I hated her because she held so much back but now, in hindsight, was it all just an illusion? I sighed, closing the car boot so it clicked shut. Walking around to the driver's side of the car, I planned to go to the hospital accident and emergency ward in Barnstaple – the only place the SatNav told me there was a hospital.

It was quite simple. I had fallen in love with my Soulfinder the very first time I met her and long before the secret was revealed.

Hello again! Sorry for the infrequent updates, for some reason FanFiction isn't letting me see any reviews or messages or even showing me if people are reading. So this is where it starts to kick off again! Any predicitions for what will happen to Ella, let me know! Send a review in and even if you don't want published just say and let me know what you think will happen to Ella!


	41. Chapter 41 - Joe

**Chapter 41 – Joe**

 _10:11am, the same day._

I sat anxiously in the waiting room of Barnstaple hospital, unable to sit in with Ella when they do all the medical examinations. We had to go in under fake names, selecting one of the fake professional ID's that had been in the backpack. We had arrived at the hospital about half six this morning and had an hour wait in the lobby before we were moved up to the ward that I was waiting in now. The nurses had no idea what could be wrong with Ella to cause the bleeding and were now doing a battery of tests which is why I was sent out the room.

I was terrified for my girl, though. I wanted to jump up and go barging into that room and demand to be there with her, hold her hand through all the tests but I knew they would just kick me out again and turn me back into this waiting room. Ella must be so scared, in there on her own with a fear of hospitals. However, when the nurse asked if she wanted me to stay, she could only reply telepathically, the fear closing out her voice. When people say they have an innate fear of hospitals, they tend to mean they can't relax and feel welcomed in one. Ella actually couldn't function when in one, meaning she was an unresponsive mess. She could use me as a translator for her, with her feeding me telepathic messages for me to reply to the triage nurses' question but when it came to the nurses asking Ella if she wanted me to stay in, and Ella begged for me too but couldn't say a word they had to turn me out into the waiting room. Since then, no matter what I asked Ella through telepathy she wasn't able to reply.

I scanned the waiting room, hunched in the little wipe clean chair. The waiting room was tucked away in the corner of the ward, with about thirty odd chairs in a three sided square shape, the nurse's desk making the disjointed fourth wall. On the white pillar that went down the middle posters of flu jabs and hand washing was on display. About six or seven nurses sat in the bay, catching up with chart history and quietly talking to each other about cases, using only the initials of the patients for confidentially reasons. The smell of brewed coffee was strong, as more patients strolled into the emergency ward. It wasn't busy, though, just the odd kid injury from falling over at the beach and so on.

 _Joe, I'm so sorry._ Ella telepathically whispered to me, and it sounded like she was crying.

 _Ella, what's up? What's wrong?_ I tried to urge back but she completely cut out again, leaving me to wonder what the Hell was up with her.

The agonising wait continued on for another ten or so minutes, every minute feeling like a century knowing that Ella was upset on the other side of that wall but there was nothing I could do about it. I traced a pattern on my knee. I love Ella, it was quite simple. This only proved to myself that I did. I had to tell her, but it sounded at the moment like she had bigger fish to fry.

I jumped in my seat as the nurse touched me on my shoulder to get my attention. She smiled apologetically at me.

'Mr Friar, can you just come with me for a second,' She asked and it took me a second to put two and two together. It was the contact name we put on the forms for Ella's fake ID.

'We have found out two or three reasons for the bleeding of your girlfriend, Laura. How long have you two been together?' The nurse asked me.

'Er, not too long I guess.'

'Laura mentioned that you got together one night at a party under the influence of alcohol in late March, is this true?' I frowned, wondering why Ella brought up this information. Was this why she was so distressed.

'Yeah – is she okay?'

'She's asleep at the moment. She's quite distressed as well, we'll try and get you a pass so you can stay with her from now on in. I think it's better for her health if you stay with her. She needs someone to keep her calm. Okay, thank you Mr. Friar for answering those questions.'

'Why did you need to ask them, it seems a bit off an odd question?'

'We know what is wrong with Laura to cause that internal bleeding –'


	42. Chapter 42 - Ella

**Chapter 42 – Ella**

No. This can't be happening, this can't be real! I thought to myself in my semi-conscious state. I didn't want to reveal that I was awake in case those evil, primitive nurses were around prying for some more information to take from me. I didn't want this to be happening. I always read it in books, or on social media when I was fourteen or girls gossiping in school, but I never thought it could happen to me. Joe will be so annoyed when he finds out. He might just leave me in the hospital, survive by himself for the next few weeks until the threat blows over and continue on his normal life whilst I have to trudge through God knows what now. I was confident that, when I wake up, he would be gone and I would just have the fading trail of him to remember. I could still see him clearly, the bad boy looks but his innate kindness. His light brown hair that just looked wonderful and roused no matter how much effort went into it. His shining green and blue eyes which changed based on emotion or what he was wearing. The muscles which the training for Maui had given him but the ever so gentle nature he had also inhabited. I didn't want him to leave, but my recklessness near enough guaranteed it.

I was still in the same hospital bed that I was before when the nicely pruned flower of a nurse came in and drew litres and litres of blood from my body, made me wee in several cups and other God awful examinations before one test popped up positive. I wouldn't mind if that test would have been for the flu.

I'm so sorry, Joe. I thought again for what felt like the seventh million time since I was taken away from him. This is why I kept the whole Soulfinder thing a massive secret. I knew I would ruin him, and this was one certain way to do it. In a sudden rash of impulsiveness I started to kick out, attempting to pull all the tubes that were pumping chemicals into my body. They could be feeding me poison and I wouldn't know at the moment. I continued to kick out, legs kicking off the thing restaining my legs and my arms trying to pull out the tubes and the weird things stuck to my chest.

'Ella, Ella, calm down. You're okay.' I heard Joe say and I snapped open my eyes, surprised to see he was still sitting beside me. There was a plastic chair next to the left side of my bed, but he had got out of it to hold my arms and false me to stop pulling everything out of myself. The heart rate monitor was flat lining, and Joe picked up the finger clip, massaging my wrist to get my palm to flatten out before clipping it back on before pulling the blanket that was over my ribcage back down again where I kicked half of it off in my panic.

'Why are you still here? Just go,' I told him.

'Why would I go? I'm not leaving you,' He said defensively

'Didn't the nurse tell you what was wrong with me?' I snapped back. 'Just leave,' I whispered in tears, rolling back onto my right side. I heard Joe sigh behind me but after that it was silence for over a minute as I silent cried. I then heard footsteps going towards the door, but rather than leaving Joe just came around the other side of the bed. He squatted down beside the side of the bed, taking one of my hand that had a tube in and covering it entirely with his warm hands. He looked me dead in the eye, the soft blue brimming with concern but something else.

'I know, Ella, they told me.' He gently whispered and I flinched.

'This is what I meant by I'd ruin you.' I mumbled, trying to roll back over but Joe put his hand on my back. I felt completely drained and tired by the whole experience and I just didn't have the energy to resist.

'How will this ruin me, hun?'

'It just will.' I murmured. 'You can just leave, I won't hate you. I don't blame you.'

'Ella, seriously, I'm not leaving you so just stop saying that. We can work this out, it's nothing too bad. We just need to get through this trip then when we're back in Berkshire we can sort it all out and talk everything through. It's not the end of the world –'

'How can you say that, Joe?'

'You're only pregnant, hun -' Joe whispered and I flinched as he mentioned it, curling up smaller. Joe just left my side where he was squatting and walked around the bed, getting in the hospital bed next to me.

'Ella?' He whispered. I rolled over into his side and started crying as he hugged me, trying to comfort me enough so he could talk coherently to me. How could I be pregnant, though?

I sat in this hospital room alone as Joe was kicked out by the bitch of the nurse despite his protests. She then sat me down and analysed my blood and my piss and God knows what, before sitting here whilst she asked me all kinds of personal questions. I muttered my replies not even guessing what she was on about until she mentioned the party. And more importantly the "Did you sleep with anyone at this party?" was the question that made me start to suspect something was up, and then when she asked me about birth control. I didn't believe it at first. Honestly, I still don't believe it. I explained to the nurse I was on contraceptive at the time, and still was now and she simply shrugged and said it had broke in my arm and had been walking around with a broken implant in my arm for the last few months, as well as carrying an unborn child of which I had no idea about. The whole thing was made eighteen times worse because Joe couldn't be with me in the room when the bitchfaced nurse questioned me intently. The pregnancy test came back positive and I was forced to realise the truth and I just collapsed onto the bed and pretended to be asleep. The nurse ordered an ultrasound about half an hour ago before telling Joe.

'Calm down sweetheart,' Joe coaxed.

'Do you want me to take away the sadness so we can talk?' He gently whispered, looking at the door to make sure the doctors and nurses didn't walk in. I nodded. A few seconds later I went really light headed, and then all the sadness I had completely disappeared and I was left just so confused. So that was how his gift worked then?

'Did you know?' Joe asked, playing with my hair.

'No,'

'How is that even possible?'

'I don't know, I didn't think it was. I know there's a show about it and it's hilarious because it looks so... fake.' I explained and Joe nodded. He laid there with me completely curled up in his chest feeling numb.

'Ella – is the baby mine?' He gently asked

'What?' I said, confused to what he meant.

'Is the baby, you know...'

'Yeah, why wouldn't it be?' I asked and he shrugged but then looked down smiling at me. Compared to the shaking scared nervous wreck I was, Joe actually appeared over the moon and excited with the announcement that I was pregnant with his child. Honestly, I wasn't too sure how I felt now. The shock had worn off and I had started to realise that what was happening right now was real. The sadness and worry had been removed and now I was just confused. But there was no regret in my brain, and I realised I was even slightly excited.

'What do you want to do, then?' Joe asked. Keep the baby, I immediately thought but considering that we had only been together for just over two days, and with a terrorist organisation close on our tail trying to kill both of us, I didn't overly want to tell Joe my decision. It would be too demanding. Even though he said he wouldn't leave me I really didn't want to put that degree of pressure on him.

'I dunno... Can we just not decide anything until everything is over? Like do what's good for the baby and decide when it's all over?' I asked and Joe hesitated. 'I don't think we can make the right choice without planning everything through when this blows over.'

'Okay, yeah, sounds good.' Joe said before putting his hand on my stomach – I couldn't even say baby bump because there was nothing there. 'But, just so you know, i'll be their either way.'

I curled up even smaller into his chest, his arm coming tighter around my shoulders but the only difference in the way that he laid was rather than his unoccupied arm resting on my hand, his hand was now placed gently on my stomach as he started to fall asleep as well. I must have been a long day for him as I accidently drifted off as he packed everything in the house and then drove me to the hospital. But with his hand against my stomach, where our unborn child rests, and I knew he wanted me to keep the baby.

When spying on his thoughts, and when watching his face when he was around Jake's twins I could tell that he wanted nothing more than to have a kid and he wanted me so badly to keep our kid but I didn't want to force that level of commitment onto him. He had already become so protective of me, and the way he put his hand over my stomach when he thought I was asleep also suggested he was so protective of our baby. I don't think I'd ever want to get rid of the baby but I didn't want to tell him in case I would force him into something when he didn't want too.

But, I had a feeling this was everything he ever wanted.


	43. Chapter 43 - Joe

**Chapter 43 – Joe**

 _1:48pm, the same day_

I held Ella's hand swinging it wildly between us as we walked out of the front entrance of Barnstaple hospital. We managed to get Ella discharged early without an ultrasound telling the nurse we had managed to book an appointment for when we got home. Reluctantly, they had to let Ella go. Well, they discharged "Laura". On my back I had the small backpack we brought into the hospital with a bottle of fizzy inside, a pack of Glacier Ice Fruits as the doctor had told me Ella's blood sugar was dangerously low due to the loss of blood.

Turned out the loss of blood was due to a small stress-related haemorrhage in her womb – something caused by the pregnancy. It was completely normal, the haemorrhage, in the tunnel of the something. It happens in one in three pregnancies, but due to the stress that we were under at the moment it burst. Nothing bad had happened to the baby the nurse had reassured us but we had to get an ultrasound the second we get back.

I couldn't hide my excitement about the whole thing. I tried too but I think Ella had picked up on it. All I ever wanted was my Soulfinder and children; and both of those things happened within a few days of each other. I didn't want to tell anyone, especially not Ella, how much I wanted her to keep the baby. Would it be a bit weird if I confessed to her how much I wanted a child and that I loved her or did it seem a bit forced? If I told her how much I wanted a baby would she just assume it was because of the pregnancy?

'What are we doing now?' Ella gently asked, smiling for the first time since she was admitted into hospital and I smiled down at her, putting my arm around her shoulder and hugging her to my side.

'I guess find an ATM, withdraw a mega fuck tonne of cash and find a good romantic hotel for us to stay in for a few days, then I'm taking you out for dinner.' I explained, taking her to where I parked the car. By the time I pulled up and parked in the hospital, Ella was half asleep in the passenger seat so she didn't realise where she was.

'Why?' She stopped dead in the middle of the street. I pivoted on the balls of my feet and walked back over to her, grabbing both of her hands and that the top of my shoes were on the top of hers.

'Because you're beautiful and you're my Soulfinder, so I'm going to treat you like a princess, because God know's what will happen in the new future so I'm going to cherish the time I get alone with you. That includes spoiling you. So, we're going to get back in the car, drive around until we find a lovely little hotel with a free room with a double bed, before we hit the town and find you a wonderful dress or suit, I don't mind, and then I'll take you to dinner and give my jacket when you walk home. I know it's corny but at least give me a chance to show that we can be normal?' I told her, leaning down so I could rest my forehead on hers, looking her in the eye.

'I don't quite know what to say,' Ella owned up honestly.

'Come on then,' I said, pulling her hand so we walked towards the car.

A few hours later, we had manage to find a four star hotel on the edge of the River Taw, the main river running through the town down to the ocean. The view from our room was spectacular – you could see the large concrete bridge with cars and pedestrians and looking down you can see the empty fields by the river. As Ella looked out the large patio window, which led to our personal balcony I crept up behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist, rocking her slightly.

'Considering we're now running and hiding from terrorists, this isn't too bad.' Ella muttered and I kissed her neck.

'It's all coming together whilst everything falls apart.' I said, moving the bottle of complimentary champagne over towards us, popping out the cork in the slot of the patio window so the bubbles flowed out. I then poured it into two glasses as both of us watched on and took one for myself and gave one to Ella before I spun her around.

'We can get through this,' I muttered and she nodded and for the first time she looked confident that we would get out of this situation.

'Yeah, of course we can.' She said, toasting the glass. But as I took a sip of the bubbly, Ella put down her glass on the tableside.

'You're not going to have that?' I asked as she sat down next to one of the holdalls, opening one of the pockets to find a change of clothes before we go back into town.

'I can't,'

I frowned at her and then I realised immediately how insensitive I must have seemed. Of course she wouldn't drink now she was pregnant. I put down my glass next to hers and she looked up frowning at me.

'You can have yours, I don't mind.'

'We're in this together, right?' I sat on the end of the bed as she picked up a shirt from the bag – just a plain black crew neck – and took off the shirt she was wearing which has slight blood stains on it from all the injections and where her blood transfusion she had to have leaked out slightly. She turned around and her stomach was still completely flat. If the hospital didn't tell us, I would never have guessed. I looked down at the floor attempting to do the maths. She had told me that I was the father and the chances are she had got pregnant at the party when we spent the night together in our drunken state. But that was just under twelve weeks ago. Leannah found out about the twins when she was about nine weeks – and by twelve she was huge. And Ella was completely flat.

'You keep looking at my stomach – please don't.' Ella said, looking more comfortable in her new shirt.

'Sorry,'

'You really want the baby, don't you?' Ella whispered, and I caught her eyes in the full length mirror. She was strangely emotionless apart from a tiny frown. I nodded – I couldn't lie to her. 'You know we can't really make a decision with all of this going on, right? We don't even know if the baby is...' Her voice trailed off as she looked down at the floor. I knew what she was going to say. If the baby was alive, or if the baby was well. And truth be told, we really didn't because we left before the scan. It wouldn't put our minds at rest, granted, but not having the scan would probably turn out to be a good idea. Both of us realised, even though it really did suck, it would be better for us both if we didn't think too much about the baby. We needed to make the decisions to get us home safe and well and we couldn't overly think about our kid.

'Ella, I'm sure the baby is absolutely fine but you're right. We just need to think of it as us two until we're back at base, right? As horrible as it sounds, the baby has to be an afterthought.'

'Yeah, exactly.'

'Come on then, let's go shopping and find you a cute dress.'

Three hours later, we were in a middle classed boutique in the middle of Barnstaple's town centre, where tourists were milling around with their bags full of shopping. I was sat on the bench in the changing room, with my new suit in one of the bags, another bigger bag with four pairs of shoes – a pair of black patent shoes for the date tonight, and three pairs of converse. One was one, two was Ella's as she said she couldn't walk in heels so Converse would be an ideal substitute. When I went to complain she gave me the puppy dog eyes and I caved in straight away.

'I like this dress – what do you think?'

Ella spun around, the dress lifting up slightly as it caught the wind and twirled with her. The dress she had chosen was a plain black pinafore styled dress, with thin black straps which matched the sitting of her bra. It had a relatively low cut front but was still modest, gathered in at the bottom of her ribcage and flowed to a stop just above her knees. She had taken her shoes and socks off and was now barefoot in the changing room laughing as she spun around. Bless her.

'You look beautiful,' I said softly and she grinned at me.

'This one then?'

'Yeah, that one.' I got up, leaving the bags on the bench, and walked over to her, picking her up around her waist and kissing her gently. 'How did I get so lucky?' I said to myself.

'I wouldn't say lucky, doomed – yes.'

'Oi, stop that now.' She took off the dress and I handed her the pair of jeans and the black shirt she wore down here, never once taking my eyes off her face. 'So we're all done for tonight – we got everything?'

'Yeah, I think so. You really don't need to do this, Joe.'

'No, I really do. When we get back to base we will be completely swamped with questions and we'd probably have to tell our families and we won't get a break for quite a while, and we wouldn't have the chance to do anything cute like this. So I'm making a really bad situation have some wonderful elements in it by taking you on dates and to tourists hot spots so we can have fun. You cannot argue. Today, it's date time. Tomorrow, let's say bumper boats and the day after that let's hit some theme parks.' I explained and she grinned, going on tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

'You're perfect, you know that?'

10:28pm

I had just settled the bill in the small romantic restaurant we had eaten out at. Located down the river on the other side from the hotel, it had an amazing view of the sand banks causes by the low tide, the boats that used to float freely earlier now anchored down into the sand. But along the grounds of the restaurant, loads of small candles and LED lights had been lit, making the whole place look like a fairy wonderland. I had managed to get us the best table in the whole place – a candle lit table for two closed in by wooden panelling right next to the floor to ceiling length windows. Both of us had managed to eat the entirety of the three course meals having the same as each other. Melon balls with some melon slices and God knows what as decorations, with lemon drizzle. Followed by bacon wrapped chicken with a side of French toast with melted cheese and vegetables, sautéed with herbs and spices giving the foods a delightful kick. And then for dessert a massive bowl of ice cream, chocolate and strawberry sauce, several fudge bars and flakes all primed for sharing. When there was no waiters or waitresses near the table, I had great fun literally spoon feeding Ella the ice cream as she laughed happily. From tonight, I knew that there was a great possibility that we could actually work something out and stay together. I had got to know Ella a bit better and was seeing the confident side of her. I guessed all this time I had seen the side of her holding terrible secrets back but she had started to trust me and relax entirely around me and that was revealed when we were alone by the river with a candle lit dinner.

We got up, both of us saying goodbye to the bartender who so loyally kept us topped up with our iced Pepsi's and Sprite's, putting a note in the tip pot for him and we left the restaurant. It was about a fifteen minute walk down the river side and across the famous Barnstaple bridge to get back to our hotel room, although Ella and I didn't discuss the fact I managed to book the honeymoon suite which is why there was rose petals on the bed and a bottle of bubbly on ice when we got up there. I had started to wonder why.

'Joe?' Ella asked.

'Yeah?'

'Thank you for tonight.'

'It's alright, hun.'

'Well, thank you for everything, really. I honestly would have no idea what to do if you wasn't here with me. I know it sounds really cheap and whatever, but I really wouldn't.'

'Ella, I wouldn't know what do without you here either. If you wasn't here I would have done something completely stupid and probably manage to drive back to Berkshire by now. I know this isn't the best situation for us to meet, but I'm so glad we did.' I explained, and I felt how cold she was. We were on the footpath that led us across the bridge and I quickly shrugged off my blazer jacket, like I promised I would and put it around her shoulders. She gently smiled up at me, her eyes a wonderful bright green against the dark of the night. I pulled her onto the bridge but stop her promptly again under a street lamp, the yellow cast of the light dancing around out feet.

'Ella, I've fallen in love with you. I know that neither of us came down here to willingly set up a relationship, or really came down here willingly, but I am so glad that I finally met you. Yeah, I'm slightly annoyed you didn't tell me sooner but at this precise moment I don't care because just seeing you standing here means everything to me at the moment. I don't know how I lasted this long without you by my side and I know that I could never go back to any strand of humanity that didn't involve you because I love you, Ella.' I confessed to her quietly, hands wrapped around her waist before I remembered what I had in my blazer pocket. I quickly pulled out the small box from my side pocket and Ella, who had tears in her eyes from my speech frowned at the box. 'It's not a ring – not yet – don't worry.' I joked as I opened the box in front of her.

I had seen her admire the necklace in one of the boutiques jewellery counters but never told me about it. On a silver chain, a small silver pendant dangle down in the shape of a heart. On the right hand side of the heart, two diamonds sat next to each other with a turquoise gem at the bottom of the heart. Whilst it had been expensive, it was worth every penny to see Ella's face light up.

'How did you know?' She whispered as I took it out the box and wrapped it around her neck, Ella holding her hair up as I managed to do the clasp up with shaking hands.

'I saw you look at it, and when you went to try the dress on and I went to get a smaller size, I went over to the cashier and brought it for you.'

She held the small heart on the necklace, tilting it so it caught the glare of the lamppost before putting it against her mouth and dropping it back on her chest. 'I really don't have a speech planned out like you did, and I'm not even that coherent with words but basically, I always have loved you. From the second I saw you in the interview room you were just perfect. I wish I had the confidence to tell you but I never wanted to hurt you. The engagement party was some kind of haven because I actually got to spend time with you without anyone thinking too much of it but I loved every second of it and I wish I never got that drunk so I could remember every second of that night. But since we both came down here, I've fallen deeper and deeper in love with you until the point of no return. Joe, I really do love you.' Ella spoke really quickly her eyes on the pavement the entire time until the last sentence when she looked up at me. I smiled down at her before kissing her under the lamp post in the night in a strange town – but I couldn't feel more at home.


	44. Chapter 44 - Joe

**Chapter 44 – Joe**

 _Eighteen days later_

Both Ella and I crouched down on the island of Lundy, mentally and physically steeling ourselves for the stupid potential suicide mission we were about to endure. We had been on the run from the three terrorists for nearly twenty days now and we were sick of it. It was less than ten days until the bombs were placed on their flights an hundreds of innocent civilians will die just to make a statement about Savant's not having full control of the world. After all, if a family of three could blow up planes without any Savant's noticing them, anyone could do the same if not worse. Maui by the looks of it were doing nothing about it, valuing our lives over those of the innocent. It was too risky for them to intervene, though, as we had warned Michael that there was a few people inside base who was reporting the information on.

We had managed to figure out a way so that I could tag along when Ella used her gift, and we had both projected back to base to find out what type of security they had on the island and were immediately relieve to find they had nothing and kept it minimal. After that, we explored the island thoroughly and devised a plan. Hopefully our plan didn't include killing anyone, but just detaining them.

The plan would go like this; we would rent a dingy from Summerleaze beach in Bude, and the second we were on the boat Ella would project back to base and flag up a spotted report for both of us. This would alert everyone at Maui that we were doing something dangerous and they would prepare the helicopters to come down and pick us up if we needed it. We had parked the car with all of our gear in the beach long stay car park, paying for a few days tickets in advance so Maui had time to come and recover the items so we could (ideally) keep them. From Summerleaze, we would head to Lundy and use one of the beaches to climb up, carrying our trusty dingy with us. We would sit and watch, waiting for one of the younger men of the family to leave the island, taking two of the security guards with him. This was a daily thing, and would leave only four people in the house; the main bad guy – the fat one from Nando's, a thinner looking man and two security guards. The second the young man was docked we would head over there, and we'd go into the warehouse. Ella would go upstairs into the private living station of the two men and cut all communications, lights and others and detain the two men by using her gift to knock them unconscious straight away. I would, in this time, run down to the outhouse and blow it up which would cut off all security systems they may have in place. We would meet back in the warehouse, disable the bombs entirely and throwing them into the ocean and telekinetically moving them straight down the ocean to a small private beach in Bournemouth, where the offices for Maui are based. Hopefully by then, we would be safe enough to contact our brothers by telepathy and get the helicopter to come pick us up and the whole bomb threat would be a distant memory and no one would be injured.

Well, that was the plan.

We had managed to carry out the first part of the plan perfectly, the car park had been paid for and our move on our rented speed boat (dingy were sold out unfortunately) had been flagged up at base. Handily for us, Michael was already in the office even though it was only half eight in the morning and his shifts never started until at least ten. Both Ella and I had the suspicion he was too scared about his little sister to rest but we didn't talk to each other about it. We had got to Lundy safe – albeit soaking – and had managed to take out speed boat (okay, the speed boat wasn't anything fancy – just think of a really good inflatable raft slash boat with a shitty petrel engine on the back up the hill with us. We were now sat poised behind a rock, looking out waiting to see the younger man leave the house for the day.

'I don't want anything to happen to you two,' I whispered to her, my arm around her waist. She frowned slightly, looking over at me.

'Two or too?'

'Two,' I repeated, as she laughed at how stupid this conversation was, and I placed my hand on her stomach. I couldn't quite tell if it was my perspective of the events but she had started to have a tiny baby bump. I mean, you still looked flat when wearing shirts like she did right now but when she was in one of the many hotel rooms we had visited when on the run from the terrorist organisation who were literally on our tail the entire time she used to walk around without a shirt on. There was really nothing to be embarrassed about between us too and we just tried to remain calm and comfortable during the whole time so when late at night when she took off her shirt I could just about see a tiny bump starting to form even though she insisted no one was there.

But the effect of bringing up the baby was immediate on Ella. She hunched over a bit more and frowned to the ground. She didn't really care what happened to her, but she cared too much about the baby and wanted nothing to harm the baby.

'I don't think we want anything to happen to you either,' She replied as we both sat with our back to the rock we were hiding behind.

What we were doing was stupid and could even be suicidal but neither of us could just wait and watch all of this events fold out knowing we could have helped. I think both of us were willing to give up the potential of spending the rest of our lives together just to make sure the civilians, which included over 250 middle school kids who just attended a normal day at school, die innocent deaths. We couldn't do that. The way Ella put it was "would it be worth risking our lives and everything we have, or would we rather live for years knowing that we could have stopped these events from happening?" and I agreed. I mean, I hoped the best possible outcome would happen; we destroy the bombs and move them straight to the office headquarters in Bournemouth so they're out of the way and then we can just go back uninjured but I was deluding myself.

We looked at each other as we heard the sound of boat start up. I quickly grabbed Ella's hand, which was completely freezing despite the fact we were currently having a heat wave and despite the early morning it was about thirty degree's already and the public beaches already had hundreds loitering on them. I felt tired, a common symptom of Ella's gift and I closed my eyes, letting my body follow my brains path.

Sure enough, Ella managed to pull me into her projection so we were standing on top of the rock. Three men had just walked down the staircase, two security guys in uniformed black walking behind the younger man. The younger man was in just a shirt and some cargo shorts and white socks and sandals and looked like a fashion disaster. I suppose it made us feel a bit better about doing were about to do. As we watched, the young man got onto the wooden boat next to one of the security guys, as the other one climbed on the boat shook in the shallow waters. He pulled the string to the boat a few times and it kicked into action as they drove away from the island to the mainland. We dragged ourselves back to our bodies, resurfacing there a few seconds later.

'I suppose we should go, then.' Ella mumbled as the realisation sunk in the chances of both of us getting out uninjured was minuscule.

'Ella, just in case we don't have time on the island, I love you, alright? Don't forget that ever okay hun. If for some reason I don't get out of this, you know what I want you to do. Don't sit around all day grovelling over me, make sure you and the baby have a wonderful life. My family will help you too. I know full well Jake will practically adopt you... just don't sit around doing nothing. I love you, and the baby, so much,' I whispered to Ella attempting to bite back the tears as she pounced at me, her arms around my neck as she cried into my shoulder. I hugged her tightly back not wanting to forget this moment.

'I love you too, you know that I do. We'll get through this fine though, right?'

'Yeah, of course we will, we'll be fine.' I reassured her, but we both were having doubts now. We both knew how stupid this was but there was no other way about it. We saw the boat docking up in the nearest harbour. 'Let's get this over and done with,' I whispered, grabbing the boat and holding it to my side, taking Ella's hand with the other.

As we got onto the un-inhabitated island, both of us turned deadly serious. We managed to pull the wooden boat onto the small beach, stashing it behind some large rocks so if the younger man with the white socks and sandals was to come back early we would not realise something was wrong at first glance. Ella and I ran up the stairs leading up into the island. Considering it was meant to be empty, we were amazed at how professional the whole job looked. They had really gone to town with the staircase, being made from evenly cut pieces of oak that had been anchored into the place on the cliff. We hauled our was to the top and could see down into the valley of the small island, on the flat bit in the middle, just unseeable from the main island of Lundy due to the whole island's height was the warehouse. Two floors, but mainly it was just an empty shell. Within the empty shell, there should be three Karrimor walking rucksacks, similar to the ones Maui sent us down with but a bit smaller and less compartments. However, on the upper floor the main living quarters were the men that Ella were meant to look for but never meet. She would hopefully just climb up the stairs, stay in the corridor as she projected into the living quarters and knocked out the older two men from the same family as the young man with the socks. She would just reduce their temperatures so low their bodies couldn't take it and they would collapse for a decent amount of time – at least a few hours giving us time to escape and get them arrested and into the Savant block at Guildford in quick speed. I was meant to stalk the two security guards, who just walk around the warehouse and outbuilding duo on several routes looking for intruders, knock them out by sheer force I guess and short circle the outhouse which was the main electronically base. The events would happen simultaneously and we could disable the bombs, send them to the stream by Bournemouth headquarters and get a helicopter in to get us out.

I pulled Ella down into a crouch through the long grass as we both looked at the warehouse, waiting for the security guards to walk past the front door for us to sneak down. The windows from the upper floor didn't look over this way so the security was our biggest risk at the moment. Ella and I remained in absolute silence until the security lads had walked past the front door, around the corner and half way up the length before both of us sprinted down the hill, skidding on the damp mud before sliding into the warehouse, getting straight into a dark corner to the left completely out of sight from anyone, the darkness acting as our shields.

'You know the plan,' I whispered to Ella knowing we had gone over it a thousand times at least and it was so engrained in both of our heads that we could recite it word for word almost like Christmas Carol singers in the local supermarket on Christmas Eve.

'Yeah, you?'

'Yeah.' I wrapped my arms around her waist, her back pressed against my chest as she held my hand.

'Ella, if we both get out of this well I promise you I'll marry you.' I said.

'Will you actually?' She asked, playing with the leather bracelet she had got me. It was weird normally I hated things like this but I decided I liked it and with me wearing the present she got me, and her still wearing the silver necklace it was already like we were married. We were already committed to each other that marriage would just seem like another bit of paper to her but she had told me how much marriage meant to her family. Not entirely her, she sounded like she didn't really care, but it meant everything to her family. Her parents, Karla and Saul, seemed very religious and were especially over protective in the way Ella was raised. They used to take her to church but she had started to refuse, preferring her karate club on a Sunday morning instead. I still remembered the face she pulled when I told her she'd have to tell her Mum she's pregnant without being married or even in a relationship when she fell pregnant. I frowned, realising Ella was looking up at me as I carried on my melancholy day dream.

I nodded. I knew I loved her, and being apart from her was physically and mentally painful, and sending her off into a terrorist organization that wanted to kill her to prove a point to Maui that they weren't invincible, and that could end up with her, or myself, being murdered, seems like the definition of Hell. But, I had to do it. I had to do it, even though it would kill me inside. I had to do it, knowing there was a small change this is the last time I could see my girl. I straight away hugged her tight, so tight that she probably had troubled breathing but I didn't care. I buried my head in her shoulder, kissing her neck. It'll be fine, I tried to reassure myself. But it would be fine. I had seen the future, I know she would live, and I know that we'll end up getting a flat together in the near future, but the future can all too easily be changed and I couldn't trust my gift when it comes to telling the future anyway. I pulled away, still holding onto her waist as she turned around.

'I'll hold you to that, then,' She whispered, wiping away a tear. I knew she didn't want to leave either.

'I love you, Ella,'

'I love you too, see you in a moment,' She whispered and if knowing one of us had to make the first move or we would just sit here for hours she got up, dragging her feet slowly like she regretted every step she took away from me. The managed to walk across the large expanse of grey concrete flooring in a wide arc to avoid the Karrimor backpacks which contained the explosives. Probably a good idea to give them a wide berth. They were all placed strategically, all equidistance away from each other. We knew how to disable the bombs – we had to disconnect the charger from the main device to ensure the timer wouldn't work, then take out the plugs from the putty so the C4 explosives would not have the initial spark before cutting the wires to ensure it couldn't be plugged back in.

Ella hesitated in the doorway waiting for me to go and I sucked my teeth. I didn't want to go but I knew it was wise too. She smiled sadly at me, her hand over her stomach before she turned away and vanished from sight. I sunk to the floor and hunched over. What if that was my last time seeing my Soulfinder, my beautiful girl? But, I didn't have time for this, I had to do my part and help my girl.


	45. Chapter 45 - Ella

**Chapter 45 – Ella**

I looked back at Joe, who was still lurking in the shadows but stepped forward slightly when I left his side, and he still hadn't moved. I had seen Joe cry once ever and that was when I told him there was no way in Hell I would get an abortion. It wasn't that I was against them or anything, but I couldn't have the strength in me to do that and if I carried a child for nine months, I would want to keep them and especially with the whole Savant element involved I would want to keep them safe. I had seen the dark side of the world from a very young age and I never wanted my children to go through that kind of stuff and I wouldn't risk exposing them to that type of darkness by giving them up. So I straight up told Joe that I would want to keep the kid and he'd have the choice to either stay and be a part of the baby's life, be the Dad he always wanted to be, or leave when we go back to Berkshire and I wouldn't dob him in it. I would just say the baby's Dad didn't want anything to do with them, but wouldn't name and shame. When I told Joe this, we were both completely shattered and were staying in a hotel in Brighton, many miles away from Cornwall where they expected us to be staying. It seemed like a good idea but the drive was horrendous and traffic. We were both sitting with our legs out on the small sofa half asleep, legs entangled but able to speak to each other face to face. I told him this randomly, with the pressure on my mind to much to keep in and he told me straight up he would never leave me or the baby, or any children we might go on to have. I lunged myself at him, starting to cry knowing so much pressure was off me now. I had feared he would panic at the level of commitment and flee but he nailed it entirely. So as I lay on his chest, I told him about my mental health issues.

I told him how depressed I actually was, and I talked him through my suicide and why I did it, and when he asked what stopped me from doing it I simply told him nothing had stopped me - I wanted to die the entire time but Xav was the one who made me throw up so I guess he stopped me. I also told him how my anxiety goes hand in hand with my depression and how I always find it hard to speak to people freely and preferred to be by myself and rather than find silences uncomfortable and awkward I actually thrived willingly in them. But I only saw him cry when I told him about my suicide, but it was more of a silent cry as he hugged me close telling me he'd never let me go. Not that he could fix everything for me and not the wonderful presence of his Soulfinder being would fix me mentally but rather that he wouldn't leave me again. He didn't tell me he was crying but I could hear it and I could feel his tears in my hair.

I think I had to move the count up to twice, now. As I walked away, I projected to see if he was alright and moving but he just stood watching me as a single tear fell down his cheek before he slid to the floor all hunched over as another tear fell. He didn't wipe them away – he let them make their path almost unaware.

Smilingly sadly at Joe, I walked into the staircase and had to take a moment to stop and think about what I could have lost by walking off. I wanted to seem confident and defiant, almost like the Katniss of the situation if this was set in the Hunger Games hoping it would rub off onto my ego but nothing. If anything, I felt worse.

I sat down on the bottom step, knowing my temperature had already started to fall – not something we had anticipated. On noticing this, I started to shake uncontrollably and started to cry as well. I never wanted to hurt Joe or drag him into something bad and that was exactly what I had managed to do. I knew I never wanted to ruin him, but my brain made up the word ruin as an illusion. Every time I said I would ruin him what did I actually mean?

I realised exactly what it meant now, though.

I had managed to ruin him, yes, but not in the way I expected. I thought burdening him with me and all my illnesses would be enough to make him collapse and break him but instead it made him stronger and more willing to fight on and stay by my side. For that, he was my hero. But when I said I would ruin him, what it meant in hindsight was I would destroy him emotionally. He had just witnessed his Soulfinder, the one thing he says means more to him than anything else, walk off for the last time and not only that, his Soulfinder was pregnant with his only child. If I was to do anything wrong I could lose the child or die, and then that would ruin him. That was what my brain meant all along by the term "ruin". It wasn't me being poetic or enticing thinking that my mental health issues could hurt him. I mean they sure can and probably will in one way or another but it wouldn't totally destroy him. However, him watching his Soulfinder and unborn child die would destroy and ruin him. That's what I meant by ruin subconsciously.

Sobbing silently on the stairs, I put my hand on my stomach where my daughter or son rested. It was just me and you now. Joe was probably somewhere safe and less risky. He was taking on two security guards who weren't Savants and didn't have guns whilst I had the riskier pair, but I hopefully would never see them. Joe would just have to use sheer force to get his way.

Trying to calm myself down on the stairs knowing my gift wouldn't be effective if I was this upset I thought back to Joe talking about the baby. He tried to keep it calm and collective around me, pretending that I didn't know how much he wanted the baby. But I knew. I saw the way his face lit up every time I mentioned the baby in some way, and even the way he rested his hand against my stomach showed me how excited he was. Sure, Joe had managed to keep a straight and reassuring face when he told me the choice that we had to make the second we get back was completely up to me and he'd be by my side for whatever I chose I knew how badly he wanted me to keep the baby. Whilst I was confused at the first, the idea did seem more and more appealing as time passed. Not only that, he mentioned the baby once or twice as "her" or our "daughter" and then started to apologise. I guessed that his gift meant he'd see our child especially as the closer we got, the more his gift started to vary so future telling was along them and he was become more precise but he refused to tell me what he saw but it was probably safe to assume we'd be having a little girl.

Ten minutes later I managed to pull my shit together and stopped crying and snivelling. I had to get myself together – this was pathetic! I got up, dragging my feet up the stairs knowing that this could be the last time I could alive .This was probably just as dangerous and disabling the bombs. We had instructions for the bombs and how to dispose of them but I had no idea if my gift would even work on these people. They were Savant's – I knew that. They were pissed off at the Net, thinking we should be free to use God's natural advantages to gain world control, and killing us and bombing planes would be the "perfect statement" but I didn't know what type of gifts they had.

I got to the top of the staircase, silently opening the double door before slipping off my Nike Flex running shoes. Despite having a thin sole I didn't want to risk making any noise to show my presence. Thankfully for me, my messed up spine meant I walked in a very odd way – rather than walking heel to toe like other people, I walk toe to heel – or normally just toes. That's right, I walk around on my tiptoes. It gave me a good natural advantage for dance and kickboxing and all the martial arts I did when I was younger, but it also meant I can creep around silently. Sneaky me! I slowly crept towards the door to the living suite hearing the mumbles of conversation inside. That looked hopeful, because they didn't know we were there.

I got about five feet from the door when all the power went out and I grinned knowing that Joe had managed to cut out the power. That's my man. A few seconds later I heard the corresponding sound of explosions from the outhouse just up the island a bit.

'What the?' One of the men in the room shouted and I started to shake.

'Thom, Marc what was that?' One guy asked to what I assumed was the radio walkie talkie device but only a short burst of static responded. 'Dammit – Thom, Marc!' The other man shouted and I heard footsteps. Quickly I projected to inside the room where the men were grabbing their tracksuits tops and throwing it over their shoulders.

'There's someone outside, boss, look at the CCTV!' the skinnier man shouted to the fat round lump of lard who was the older brother out of the three. The fat man closed his eyes and I felt a wave of power pass through the whole warehouse including myself. I spent only a millisecond trying to figure out if any damage had been done to me or the baby but I felt completely fine – just tired all of a sudden – and I nodded to myself as I grabbed hold of the two men's spinal fluid and brain tissue fluid and threw the temperature down into the low thirties. Both of the men collapsed to the floor in seconds, temporarily paralysed and completely unconscious. They weren't going to harm us now, I thought, and they definitely didn't have time to contact their younger brother. I was making sure I was in all telepathic streams and heard nothing, so we were good. The plan so far was working out surprisingly well. I smiled smugly to myself and then the honesty came crashing down. Maybe we would be fine? Maybe it won't end up like the end of an adventure genre book and we can just go home tonight and be in our own beds ready to start a life together with our baby.

Slowly, I crept around the door just to make sure they were on the floor and both of them were. The fatter man was lying in a pool of steaming coffee he managed to knock over and I contemplated rolling him out of the mess but realise why should I? He sent death threats to both Joe and I, and messed up our safe house and left a note saying they would tie me up and rape me and kill Joe in front of me if they ever found us. Fuck off; he can get third degree burns on his face for all I care now. He means less to me than an atom of dirt in Australia.

I ran down the stairs, slipping my shoes back on loosely, pushing open the door and running to the first backpack – the one closest away from the warehouse door. I very carefully unzipped the backpack not wanting any sudden jerks that could trigger the countdown timer. When the zip was fully open I was able to slide the bomb packet and frowned. What was the first step? The charger. I frowned, never seeing a real bomb in actual life situations. I knew what the charger looked like in pages but found it difficult to find under pressure with shaking and frozen fingers. Trying to breathe steadily I found a small screen that had 88:88 displayed on it, and I unplugged the wires all at the same time flinching but nothing happened. The clock was on neutral when I found out, and now the screen just showed darkness. Good – first step done. I sighed, before finding the putty for the C4 – this wasn't overly hard as it was a massive white block is the bomb making equivalent of greaseproof paper with some white blu-tack stuff attaching the wires. Imagine when you see Mythbusters play with C4 – it had a similar wiring. I pulled out the two wires, leaving the C4 in the front pocket of the bag, zipping it up carefully before pulling out the knife I had in my waistband and cutting the wires in half. I sighed as I walked back from the first backpack so relieved nothing had happened.

I knelt down next to the second one, doing the exact same but in quicker time as I had managed to nail the process of bomb disposal. Totally putting that on my CV.

'Ella!' I heard someone call, my head bolting straight up trying to find out where the voice was coming from.

'Ella!' Joe called, and I knew he was outside the warehouse running around. A few seconds later he appeared in the doorway, a few burn marks on his arm and sweaty but I've never felt so relieved to see anyone ever. I quickly got up, jumping over the third and active bomb and ran straight into his arms, crying.

'Did you do it, is everything okay, are you okay?' I quickly asked him, crying in his arms as we both sunk it our knees in total relief we were safe now and neither one of us had been hurt. Joe sat crossed legged on the floor as I sat on his lap, legs around his waist.

'Yeah, the power's all been disconnected. I found a bottle of vodka and poured it on the wires and blew it up. The security lads are... er... they're not going to be waking up for quite a while. I overheard them talking about what they would do to you and got annoyed...' He explained, running his fingers up and down my spine trying to massage the knots out.

'What's happened to your arm?' I gasped when I saw the red blisters up close.

'Er, fire.' He joked and I immediately made an ice block out of thin air and put it against his arm, holding it still as he flinched. 'Men upstairs?'

'They're solidly out. Not getting up for quite a while. Are you sure your arm is okay?' I whispered and Joe looked at me, his eyes a wonderful ice blue as he smiled.

'Wonderful,' He just mumbled, putting his hand on my neck as he pulled me in for another kiss. A few minutes later we broke apart from our kiss out of breath.

'Do you want to go get your brother to pick us up – I think I know what i'm doing with the bombs now,' I whispered, resting my head against his shoulder. We were out of the woods now – although we did just make out next to an active and ticking bomb.

'You sure?'

'Yeah, I'll be good.' I whispered, grinning the entire time as I climbed of his lap and stood up, offering my hand to help him up. He grabbed it but levies himself up to start with, smiling down at me as he stood up. He realised that we were all fine and had been over reacting the entire time. We knew what we were doing, we were trained in things like this and we always would be fine but now it seemed obvious but we didn't know if it would backfire. We were going in completely blind but it paid off.

'I love you,' Joe whispered again, running his hand down my arm.

'Go get your brother,' I joked, laughing at his resistant to leave me. He turned to jog out the door, turning to smile at me again as he reached the open door before disappearing out of view again. I crept back over towards the backpack my hands shaking with relief. I took a moment as the realisation hit me of what the next few days would hold. The second I arrived back home we'd be taken straight into the hospital in Maui for the routine examinations and for females that would include a pregnancy test which would come back positive. I'd have to sit down Michael and talk him through everything (when Joe was out of the room and high and dry for his own sake) and get him to calm down enough to talk to Joe without any death threats. I'm fairly confident my family from Colorado would fly over the second they heard that we were back from Cornwall, so after getting Michael to calm the hell down and sort through everything, I would have to go through the exact same thing about eight more times.

Pulling out the detonation pack, I unplugged the charger from the bomb, and then the putty, before cutting the wires. That was it. We were free. I stood up, grinning like the Cheshire cat.

 _Don't be so stupid, Ella, we know you better than that._

I pivoted on the spot, looking around for where the mysterious telepathic voice had come from. I opened my mouth to call Joe, keeping my back to the door at all times as I scanned the warehouse.

 _We won't touch you... yet. Don't call Joe. What help with he be? This is between you and your family, and us._

I didn't reply to the voice knowing it was just a wind up trying to get me to stay. After all, my brothers were all in Colorado, or at base where no one can touch them. It had to be a wind up – a decoy to get me to stay, so I could stay in gun range. That's it – let's get a move on Ella. I edged back certainly, my arms splayed by my side in caution.

 _You don't know who we are. That's fine, Eleanor, you don't need to know yet. We'll get to you, and to Michael, when we're ready. We haven't forgotten about you. No. It's been a while since we saw each other – neither of you were old enough to remember – but give it time._ The voice continued and I had just got over half way in the warehouse. The three backpacks were set away from the door, and I assumed I could probably sprint though the door and to Joe any second. I could just feel that he finished his telepathic conversation with Jake and they had already deployed the helicopter to pick us up.

 _You can run, Eleanor, we'll still find you. We never lost you._

The voice cut off and I started shaking again, before pivoting on my heels and sprinting towards the door. But it was only when I turned at speed that I noticed there was a red light on the wall that was bleeping and my heart fell. I knew what that was.

A smaller, less dramatic security bomb was left on the wall that I forgot to deactivate. I didn't know it was there but to was stupid for me to think they didn't have any excess security. The bomb would be enough to activate if anyone had raided their supply and moved too fast, such as running, but not enough to set off the other bombs which would kill anyone. I tried to run as fast as I could but the beeping of the security bomb kept on going until the high pitch squeal revealed it was milliseconds away from exploding.

 _ **Bang!**_

Everything went dark, my ears were ringing and I fell unconscious.


	46. Chapter 46 - Joe

**Chapter 46 – Joe**

 _Overlapped perspective with Chapter 45_

I jogged into the field in front of the warehouse, grinning uncontrollably. For the last 20 odd days we had been running from these people who wanted to kill us, who had gone through all the effort and intent to stalk us down every step of the way, keep us on our toes the entire time and never able to rest in the fear they would just reveal themselves one day and kill us both. But now, it was over. We had disabled the bombs, and the two main individuals who wanted our deaths so bad were completely knocked out in their living quarters. Ella was unplugging the last bomb now and then we'll be free. We can start our lives together properly and not in middle classed hotel room in Barnstaple.

 _Hey Jake – it's Joe. You know... your brother._ I telepathically contacted him, wincing at the strain it was to speak telepathically to him over nearly 250 miles. Suddenly, the strain was lifted as I guess Ella's gift kicked in but it still caused a slight headache.

 _Joe, you dumb fuck. You're not meant to be contacting us telepathically, you know the risks – what do you want?_ Jake snapped back, and I knew the situation he was in at the moment was very tense. I knew he had looked up from the paperwork he was head deep in to look at Michael, who was also on the other side of the desk flipping through mountains of paperwork. But they weren't at base. Hopefully, when we flagged up in Bude they had started to move down. That was the hope, anyway.

 _Ella and I have sorted out the bombs – they have been disposed off and Ella is currently disconnecting them entirely. The terrorists who's motive was to prove that Savant's can use their gifts for evil despite all these organisations have also been knocked out and we would like you to come pick us up please – the small dead island north of Lundy, please._

 _What? What do you mean you've sorted out the bombs? You're making no sense – are you drunk eleven in the morning?_ Jake asked incuriously.

 _No, I'm not drunk. I'll say it again. The terrorists are knocked out, and will remain unconscious for quite a while. The three bombs are being dismantled by Ella as we speak, and we would require you to pick us up from the small uninhibited island just north of Lundy – you should be able to recognise it there is a fire in one of the outhouses._

 _What? I won't ask, you can explain it later to us. I'll deploy a helicopter and some lads down there ASAP. Don't do anything stupid in the mean time... but well done, bro._

Jake cut off, clearly not believing what I had just said to him but I was so relieved that he trusted me enough to come and pick us both up. I turned around, and still no sign of Ella. To be fair, she had to make sure the bombs were disabled entirely before leaving. Everything could go back to being normal now. I could go back to living at home with my parents and get ready and start packing to move into my flat at the end of August – just over a month away but they'd probably bring it forward now. I could go back to having the limited social life I normally had and going out with Jason but I could do all of this with my girl. I didn't entirely look forward to getting Jason to meet Ella even though I knew how well they would get on. They had the exact same attitude and would probably enjoy swimming with each other whilst I would just stand there in the pool. Ella had managed to teach me how to swim whilst we were down here, and how to stand up on a surfboard but that was about it.

But we were both still alive, so I had a promise to keep. I told Ella that I would marry her if we got out of here alive, and we were getting out of here. I smiled to myself as I knew I had my promise to keep. I was going to propose to her – but not the second we got back to base. She deserved something way better than that. I looked across the sea, and as the hot sweltering day continued I could see clearly down the north coast of Cornwall across the beaches that we first arrived on. Insane – the safe house that we were completely "safe" house in was visible from the terrorist's warehouse. But I would take her back down to the place she said she wanted to go when it was all over, the place I said I'd take her and take her down to the same beach at sunset and propose to her. I smiled to myself knowing everything had started to go well. Not only that a few nights ago I had another dream about Ella's future, her with our daughter lying on her chest. The baby girl was only a few months old but it took place early next year. Since we had got together my gifts were become more and more precise so it was fairly safe to say that Ella was pregnant with our baby girl at the moment but I wouldn't tell her. However, I did managed to mess up on pronouns and refer the baby as our daughter and she demanded me to repeat what I said but I managed to avoid the situation. This would be the start of our new life.

 _ **Boom!**_

I heard a massive explosion as I jumped, turning around to see the outhouse still on fire. I tried to calm my racing heart knowing it was probably just another circuit board catching fire but I panicked again when I saw smoke rising through the corrugated metal roof of the outhouse. Ella! I sprinted back into the warehouse, half of which was now on fire, a flammable liquid that coated the floor all ablaze. This means we were in a lot of shit now. But where was Ella? I scanned the entire room but I couldn't find her. Maybe she had already made her escape?

And then I noticed a small puddle of blood on the floor mixing with the unlit rainbow-shining liquid on the floor and saw the heap of clothing. I ran towards it, skidding slightly as I knelt down beside Ella who was unconscious, and the blood coming from a hell of a cut on her head. The leg of her jeans was burnt to her. I flinched as my arm which had the burns on from me stupidly spilling a splash of vodka onto my arm before setting the outhouse alight with a pack of matches caught the side of Ella's body. I quickly put out the flames on her jean legs with my hand, even though it killed, and picked her up slightly, resting her head on my lap.

'Ella? Ella baby?' I whispered in a panic but she was heavily unconscious, with her breathing shallow and stuttery and her pulse stupidly slow. 'Ella!' I yelled, shaking her slightly but nothing. My light blue jeans were more of a burgundy colour as the massive cut on her head continued to bleed. I quickly took off my shirt which took more effort than normal cause my hands were shaking too much and ripped of a strip. I managed to place the strip around the cut, causing a bit of pressure before tying it up.

I quickly picked Ella up, carrying her in my arms as I left the warehouse as it became more and more engulfed in angry flames. Smoke inhalation had started to get to me and I coughed hard, but I didn't care about me. What had happened to Ella? She didn't call for help, there was no sign that she was in distress. There was no one there. How did this happen so quickly? I looked down at the bandage on Ella's head but it was already soaked through with blood and was seeping around the outside.

I had never been so relieved to see a helicopter land in my entire life but it felt like it dragged on for centuries. The second the door opened to the back seating area I climbed in, carrying Ella in my arms, as one of the helicopter lads closed the sliding door behind me. Wasting no more time, the helicopter took off again as I placed Ella's limp body on the medical table – the same one I perched on when being flown down to Cornwall when this had all started.

'What happened to you both?' One of the guys shouted as he started to examine Ella. He signalled for another man to come over as one looked at my arm and corresponding leg.

'Something exploded and she hit the concrete – will she be okay?' I shouted back.

'Hard to tell at the moment, we're taking you to Plymouth hospital anyway. Both of your brothers are waiting for you there. Jeez – what's happened to this girl?'

'Will she be okay?' I repeated and I realised I was probably going into shock. That and the tin foil blanket they put around me gave that away.

'Severe burns to her legs, difficulty breathing, shallow pulse, burns to her arms, smoke inhalation, concussion and a hell of a cut to her head. Honestly, I have no idea. I'm going to tube her to make sure she keeps breathing until we reach the hospital. Call ahead to Plymouth Theatre, tell them we have a code three female and a code seven male.' The medical staff yelled across his headphones but I could only just about hear. I remembered the different codes that were used in a medical emergency. Code one was deceased, code three was unknown life threatening situation, and code seven was moderately injured but was conscious. I sat down next to Ella, holding her hand as they stuck a tube down her throat ready to bag her if she stopped breathing and silently prayed to anyone out there who might be paying attention that she would be okay.

Ten minutes later we touched down on the helipad at Plymouth hospital. I could see all the medical staff prepped for Ella's arrival, with Jake, Quinn and Michael all standing a bit further back. The second the helicopters doors was opened, Ella was transferred to a medical gurney and was wheeled straight away from me and into theatre leaving me helpless and stranded on the roof.

But I wasn't alone. Michael, Jake and Quinn all came over to me the second they got clearance from the helicopter team it was safe.

'What the Hell have you done to my sister?' Michael yelled at me full force, his face like a storm.

'I... I dunno. Something exploded.. I,' I stuttered badly, still in shock as Michael turned and ran to catch up with the medical team and my Soulfinder. Oh my God – how did this all go so wrong?

Jake and Quinn both hugged me, thankful that I was still alive and able to come out of the whole situation without too many injuries apart from blood covered clothing, a few cuts and bruises and a burnt arm, but my brother were able to tell something had changed about me when I still was staring shocked at the hospital door. Suddenly I felt a lot calmer, more able to process coherent words and sentences.

'Tell us slowly, Joe, what had happened to Ella,' Quinn cooed so I guess he was using his gift on me. Bless the little puppy dog of my brother.

'She was disabling the last bomb as I called you, she had managed to do it, I guess and she was coming out to find me so we could get picked up both something exploded – a smaller bomb, like a security one must have exploded. I just found her unconscious on the floor in a pool of her own blood and her jeans on fire and now I don't even know if she'll be okay.' I whispered as a single tear fell from my cheek to the ground. It took another minute or so for Quinn and Jake to get me to walk towards the hospital building.

'You've changed your tone about her,' Jake commented, opening the door to the lift so we could head down into the hospital, and as I looked at the ground of the lift I saw a few dots of fresh blood and I swallowed deeply trying not to cry.

'She's my Soulfinder,' I admitted as they continued to stare at me in shock as I focused on the three dots of blood, another tear falling to the left of them.


	47. Chapter 47 - Eleanor

**Chapter 47 – Eleanor**

I always wondered what it would be like to be a fly on the wall because that's effectively what my gift is. I can be a nosey little shit if I wanted too, but chose not to. I never liked surprises and I suppose I would say I hate surprises, getting too irritated when people try to wind me up with them. Mum was terrible for it. In early December every year she used to walk into my bedroom when I was sitting around in odd positions on my laptop doing essays, and she would just come strutting in telling me how hard it was too wrap and as I begged her to either tell me or get out, I wouldn't go out of my way to ruin anything. I wasn't that evil.

Christmas last year was pretty insane. Everything had happened in such a short period of time. School broke up at the beginning of December with the heavy dose of winter work we had to do. The benefits of living in a mountain area was when it came to December they often closed a few weeks early because of the inches and inches of snow. I think we had broke up December 4th or something because it had snowed so much in the preceding week that the school grounds just couldn't keep up with maintenance. I still had my insomnia then, and I managed to do the two months worth of work in three nights and considered myself a free human with no educational ties from the 7th December onwards. I had a few days to do the things I wanted to do – read a good series of books, Skype Michael a bit more than normal and go for my five hour long swim as it used to tire me out so much I would fall asleep for three hours, a rare banquet of REM for me.

But everything turned good and sour at the same time. Bare in mind, I hate surprises. Trace called me up telling me there was hours going unused at the police station for a night shift doing the same hours he was. I had a soft spot for Trace. Really, I had a soft spot for all my brothers in different ways but Trace's soft spot emigrated from when I was first adopted. There was about a nine year age gap between us – yeah, he was twenty nine at the time and I was twenty – so when I was adopted when I was five, he was fourteen. I guessed he saw the severity of all my illnesses as a kid and he always used to be the one, joint with Uriel, to come and settle me back down into bed when I woke up crying. He used to read me my Disney books and just listened to me not make any sense when my broken mind tried to explain what had happened. Because I was so young when the crash happened, I didn't understand object permanence or corrective perspective. I guess I never had corrective perspective as I lived my life as a poltergeist-like being, observing things from flying rather than through my living body and explaining things from a third person point of view. So I kept questioning the crash, asking when will my parents come back or my brothers and sisters pick me up from ballet class or whatever. Trace was the one that, every night, had to explain to me that my brothers and sisters and my parents weren't coming back but it was okay to remember them.

Trace and I were relatively close, but the closeness was tricky to keep up over Whatsapp messages. I didn't mind volunteering to work the same night shift he did, knowing it would be a good time for our monthly catch up. As I clocked in at nine at night, he was near enough called away to investigate some youths that were mugging people. I was meant to stay at the station for my own safety.

I didn't.

The second I was left alone I decided to go out for a wander, putting on the winter's coat that Mum had brought for me but I only ever wore to appear human. I aimlessly paced the streets of Denver, watching the night life come alive across the city. I then had a sudden urge to check up on Trace – so I did. I quickly closed my eyes and projected myself to his location and surely enough I observed the wonderful and glorious moment he met his Soulfinder Diamond. Sighing, wondering if I should pretend to never see this or admit to snooping, the biggest question I have to ask myself I managed to sit next to Crystal on the pavement when she was mugged. I pulled an un-amused face as they made out of the sidewalk in Denver. I realised I was projecting strong enough for Crystal to see me – wondering who the Hell I was, why I was a ghost and more importantly why I look so unamused. I was never a fan of public affection and thank for Lord's above that Joe wasn't either.

I don't think any of us were meant to know that Crystal was Xav's Soulfinder, or that any of the events that happened in Venice were going to happen but that's just a prime moment. Christmas was hectic because of the events leading up to it; Diamond and Trace's wedding to which (somehow) they got me to be a Bridesmaid too and wore the absolutely horrific yellow and white dresses (not that I would admit that to them any time soon – but Crystal and I had to laugh over it. Somehow, she managed to escape the "angelic" dresses,) meant they were on their honeymoon come Christmas day, with Karla and Saul also still in Venice due to their second honeymoon. This led to all the kids being home Christmas day with no supervising adult.

Thus, little Ella was a fly on the wall and was getting the most incriminating evidence humanly possible on everyone to use as levage. One has to do it when they have siblings. I saw what everyone got up too that Christmas and still blackmail them with it now. It was all joking, though, I would never be that harsh and I deserved anything that came my way. But when people are like "I would love to be a fly on the wall," I always sit there and think do you? Do you want to know secrets so big you can't keep them to yourself but you have too? Do you want to appear that nosey?

But by being nosey I knew a deadly secret, whispered vacantly over my head as the doctors spoke about me. The deadly secret was that the chances of me surviving this ordeal were minimal and they had already put in a word for preparation to the hospital morgue.


	48. Chapter 48 - Eleanor

**Chapter 48 – Eleanor**

 _It's been a long day, without you my friend._

 _And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again,_

 _We've come a long way from where we began,_

 _Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again,_

 _When I see you again._

I sat at the dining bar in a rustic old restaurant in the middle of nowhere, eating the plate of southern fried chips that were conveniently in front of me. I had no recollection as to how I got here, or even who the chips were – but hey, they were mine now. Picking up another chip I bit it in half, looking around the restaurant. Two people sat in the corner, huddling over a milkshake. The style of the diner wasn't as rustic as I had originally anticipated, but was more eighties diner style. Little booths sat with their leather red sofas and laminated menus standing on the table, with an oval door. I frowned, realising where I was.

Near the FBI building in Denver, which was effectively a normal office blocks to blend in there was a little 80's diner called Tina's drivers which Vick and I always used to dip into when we were working on something together. I had found the place completely by mistake, being too busy projecting to another place and walking into the diner thinking it was the office lobby. Since then, it had become our little joint for reconciliation when I probably stormed out yelling at him for some reason. Mainly because he would piss me off or kept nagging me and I got irritated too easily. I ate the rest of my fry, frowning. Normally the joint would play eighties music – the soundtrack to Fast and Furious 7, especially "See you Again" was very disjointed and didn't sound quite right. It was almost like the song had hidden meanings to an alternative situation but my brain wouldn't allow me to connect the dots. As soon as I focused on anything apart from the allusive diner my brain absolutely killed.

'How have you been?' Uriel asked, nicking one of my chips. I turned back around on my spiny chair and frowned at him. Where did he come from?

'I've been good,' I simply said, grabbing another chip from the pile.

'Just good?' Vick asked, and I turned to my left where he was sitting in his favourite grey suit, frowning at me.

'I've been absolutely fine – why the sudden concern?' I asked.

'You're not in a very good state, Ella, not in a very good state at all.' Trace again, sitting next to Uri mixing his chocolate milkshake in the tall glass with the long latte-styled spoon. 'We're not actually here, you know that right?'

'What do you mean you're not here? You clearly are, stop winding me up.' I argued back, eating another chip.

'She's failed the Mariiak perspective test,' Will commented, nudging Vick and gesturing to the plate of fries, as they call chips in America, that had appeared in front of him. Vick rolled his eyes at Will before pushing the plate over. Mariiak's perspective test was fairly new and an expansive concept in the medical and psychological world. I knew what it was, but it was never used or was unable to get any collective data from tests so it remained a theory as oppose to a solid solution. Mariiak suggested that people who are deeply unconscious stick around in made up mental stability solutions, almost in a hallucination to prevent their brain from knowing the danger they are in. Not only that, the Mariiak solution states that you should be able to pick up the changes in the data field, the hallucination, if you're in a good state to recover. If the fail the test, your brain is already fried and you cannot interpret data correctly meaning the individual would have brain damage.

'We're just in Tina's having lunch, this isn't a Mariiak's solution?' I questioned.

'Think about it more closely Ella,' Yves commented, standing behind the diner's bar, making himself his own milkshake. He had always been impatient for service. 'What are you eating?'

'Chips?'

'Yes, but where are you?' Yves tried to draw the answer out of me but I just frowned. What the Hell was he on about?

'In America, in Denver.'

'So why are you calling them chips? You're good at pretending to be American – you never slip up,' Michael said, putting his hand on my shoulder. I frowned at the plate in front of me. I had been living two lives since the car crash, being able to switch fluently between English and American, calling them fries when I've been in America and chips the second I touch down in England.

'I... I don't know.' I commented, pushing the plate away from me.

'Ella, we need you to focus, don't give up.' Xav said, joining Yves behind the bar in a maid's dress –the typical black and white had been replaced with pink and baby yellow and I laughed. 'Yeah. That got you noticing the odd things. Haven't you noticed we're all in the bar's uniform?'

I looked around to see surely everyone was in the cute little dresses, revealing hairy legs and a dipped v-neck. I started to laugh hollowly, wondering how the hell I never noticed this had happened. It was so surreal.

'She's getting the Mariiak's solution,' Zed said, playing with the under folds of the dress as he jumped up onto the counter in front of me. 'You knew something was wrong when you got here, but you didn't know what?'

'Yeah, I can't remember how we all got here.'

'That's not too bad, guys, we can work with that, right?' Uri asked everyone else and all eight of my brothers nodded, like nodding figures.

'Ella – we're all you.'

'No you're not.'

'Yes – we are all your brain in the Mariiak's solution. We need you to wake up and get with it. You know where the Mariiak's solution comes into play in someone's consciousness, yes?'

'Yeah, before they die,' I whispered.

'Exactly. Wake yourself up. What's all the things that are wrong in this room right now, Ella? List them all off and bring yourself up out of this solution.' Xav prompted.

'This is America – these are fries.' I commented, and sure enough the plate of fries in front of me dissolved into thin air. 'The bar is silver in Tina's, now brown like this.' And when I said that, the bar dissolved.

'Keep going, Ella, and we'll see you soon.' Yves said, hugging me.

'None of you are here, and no way in hell would you be seen wearing these dresses,' I laughed and all my brothers left me alone again, and I was standing in the empty diner. I couldn't remember how I got here, so this isn't real. This whole place isn't real. Sure enough, the second I thought that the whole diner started to rise and dissolve and I was standing suspended in the middle of nowhere, blackness encasing me. But something weird remained.

 _It's been a long day, without you my friend._

 _And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again,_

 _We've come a long way from where we began,_

 _Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again,_

 _When I see you again._

I frowned, turning around to attempt to find the music and sure enough it was directly above me. A spot of light remained and I struggled up there. I jumped as high as I could into the darkness that consumed the space above my head but nothing happened. Charlie Puth continued to sing, but the song never continued and just continued to play the intro over and over and over again. The song was stuck on repeat on the beginning of the song. Come on, Ella, focus! I closed my eyes, falling to my knees crying.

And suddenly I was back, like I won the last round in a video game. I had managed to beat the boss level of my own brain and was shocked back into reality the second I was able to show any human emotion. The one thing a dead person can't do is show emotion that would link to life. The second I showed sadness and remorse it was enough to kick me out of the Mariiak's solution and back into the real struggle – staying alive.

However, the darkness that I was still in was so welcoming to my fragile, broken body. The shallow breaths which stuck like fragmented glass in my lungs hurt so much and the capacity of my lungs decreases with every breath. I had won the boss level, but I was still fighting the main battle. The boss level was a mere mini game in the struggle I was in now. But I was so relaxed.

You know that feeling after a long day and you're absolutely shattered and you lay down in bed and you just relax. Maybe it's a cold day, too. I know! It's an early October morning. The leaves on the trees near the woods outside your house showed the signs of browns and oranges that would only symbolise winter was edging closer as the month continued inevitably. Time was only an illusion. The semi-permanent fog that welcomed the autumn day lingered above the trees until the sun burnt through it once it reached the peak of its arc. You head to work in the darkness of the early hours to do a thirteen hour shift at work, and when you leave again its dark. You're exhausted. You force yourself to stay away to a reasonable time not wanting to shift your sleeping clock out and it's that feeling when you collapse into your bed at night and pull the winters' duvet over your cold body. Warmth and relief comfort you mercilessly as you smile, smiling softly at the lamp on your bed side table. As you click it off for the night the darkness rushes up and welcomes you, embraces you as it guides you into its grips. It was like that... but much better.

I could relax forever.

Apart from the pain! Both my legs felt like they were on fire propelled by gasoline and butane but my inner blood was cold as ice, forming little icicles in my arteries and blocking my aorta with them as my heart slowed down. It caused steam to build in the epidermis layer of sin in my legs that wanted to break free but couldn't. My head was splitting and spinning and I couldn't find a centre point to focus on so it just continued to spin, ripping away shreds on sanity with every rotation. There was gentle warmth in my stomach that kept me kind of down to earth and wanting to keep fighting but the pain was just so intense.

If I chose to sleep now, I could wake up and this would all be other. I would be happy and fee with Joe and we could start our lives together. I was probably just having a dream on the helicopter on the way back. I didn't sleep well the night before; too scared something would go wrong in the mission to cut the bombs. I was just asleep.

I settled myself down, my eyes fluttering shit as I heard the ever present steady beating of my heart. Dum dum... dum dum... dum dum... nothing. I frowned, that was odd. That was completely bizarre indeed but I felt too light and free to care. The silence was as welcoming as my body drifted away again.

'Hearts stopped – get the crash cart!' some dick shouted right next to my ear as I flinched away.

'Start chest compressions.' Again with the yelling – I'm trying to bloody sleep here! What an odd thing to shout at this time of night. Sir, can you fucking not?

 _Ella, no, please .Please..._

I heard and it punched through all the confusion to my dwindling sense of perspective and straight to my brain. What didn't Joe want me to do? He had been supportive of all my plans for far, letting me make them for myself and if it seemed wrong he would suggest ideas and not beg for me to do something. Not only that, he sounded panicked. Was he okay? Why was he panicking?

 _You can hear me? Ella – can you hear this?_

Well, duh, of course I can hear you speaking telepathically. What kind of a question even was that? Granted Joe was thick at some points and took a while to actually click on but I mean, get with the times Joe. We had a habit now of speaking telepathically to each other. I sighed, wishing he would come into the bed with me so I could just cuddle him and he can be my warmth again. I can lay on his bicep like I normally do as he puts his arm around my waist and then I can sleep. I was so tired.

 _Ella, beautiful, you have to listen to me. You are in such a dangerous situation right now and you're only hanging on because we're talking despite it being one way._ Was he okay? Had Joe taken any recreational drugs? _No, I haven't taken any drugs._ He laughed. _You know the other day you asked me when I realised I liked you and I said I don't know. Do you want to know why I didn't know? Because I have always liked you. The second I walked into that interview room and I laid my eyes upon you I just couldn't believe how beautiful you were. You didn't even know it, either; you had just come off a bloody plane and looked like you could have walked a runway. You looked so calm and collective but at the same time so fierce. It was captivating. I couldn't stop thinking about you for weeks after that. And then that day at the race, you were just so happy with all your friends, then the party I saw what you were like relaxed and.. . it was amazing. You were my everything back then. Then you left and I was completely heartbroken. I had some crazy sense that you would stay but no, you went home like you were meant too and I sat around doing nothing. It took Jason three weeks to get me out the house to socialise after you left, I never told you that, because I literally couldn't function without you._

 _Aw,_ I commented, blushing intently but feeling awkward.

 _You replied. Ella, you can actually hear this?_

 _Yeah... you were kinda speaking telepathically to me. Kinda hard to not hear._

 _Ella, I love you so much._

 _I love you too – are you alright?_ I asked him, wondering what the Hell had caused this romantic cutesy spiel telepathically as I tried to sleep.

 _Ella. Don't fall asleep. Keep fighting, okay? I don't want you to die. Please, Ella, please._

 _Die? Why would I die?_

 _You don't understand what's happening because the doctors have put you in a medical coma –_

 _Why have they done that? Joe, what's happening?_ I almost begged of him to stop this and explain to me what was happening.

 _You're very badly injured, hun, and they've put you in a medical coma for a few hours. You're in theatre as they try and fix you – I'm still here though. I can see you, beautiful, I'm not leaving you. You just have to stay awake. Don't fall asleep._

 _I'm so tired, Joe._ I whispered.

 _Don't do it, Ella. I can't live without you. Please, I can't live without you. Please._ He whispered in tears.

 _Sorry._ I mumbled back.

 _Ella!_


	49. Chapter 49 - Joe

**Chapter 49 – Joe**

 _Nine hours later_

Ella made it through surgery – just. The second she was raced into theatre they started working on the burns, taking off the skin too damaged and prone to infection before putting some new graphed skin on the her legs. I was taking down into a prepped ward to sort out my burns on my arm and cuts and bruises. They bandaged my arm up with some cream, prescribed me a course of antibiotics and discharged me from hospital – but I didn't leave. Instead, I found my way up to the operating theatre. The doctors said I couldn't go any further but Jake managed to pull some strings and allowed me to sit in the nursing deck for trainee doctors so I could watch Ella in theatre. I watched as they operated on her shoulder and her legs to remove shrapnel – bits of fragmented metals with tiny poison capsules on the end – as well as diffusing her blood to get the poison out of her system. Several times the doctors had said if she survives this it would be a miracle and I thought they were right as her heart had stopped on the operating table four times.

After a while, she had become more and more active in her thought patterns and she was responding to me talking telepathically to her. Well, at the beginning she wasn't replying but I could hear her thinking about her reply, so I was able to reply to her. In the end, she was able to reply back telepathically but kept waving in and out as she continued to decline in a state before improving and so on. I told her so many times that I loved her, and if I could do anything to help her in her state to try and remain constant. She was thinking about me singing – so I did.

For the six hours she was in theatre I sung to her constantly, talking to her when she started to regain some more consciousness. They then took her out of theatre saying she should be okay but it's still in a critical state until the drugs ware off. But not only that, they don't know the damage until she is awake.

'Joseph Matthews?' The doctor said coming into the room. I stood up numbly and shook the hand he offered to me, but always kept the corner of my eye on Ella's inert body laying in her hospital bed. They had put a tin foil sheet over her as well as an insulation blanket as her body temperature was incredibly low, and she was still tubed from the operation. They said everything had gone the best it could but they couldn't guarantee everything was okay. However, they felt she was well enough to stop the medical coma drug that was making her unable to wake up, and they'll take out the tube and she should resurface but it could be a process that could take up to a few weeks. Some have even been known not to come out of medical coma's but that's normally after extensive use of the drug – Ella only had one dose to keep her brain at rest and reduce any further swelling and concussion. They had already warned me if she wakes up within the next 48 hours the chances of her remembering anything of the last week was minimal. She was very badly concussed, and they were unsure she'd even remember that we were together.

'You're the next of kin for Ella, correct?' The doctor asked and I just nodded.

'We've done the first post-op x rays and all the metal shrapnel have been removed. We've finished going her blood and removing the poison but she'll have to go onto antibiotics when she wakes up to try and thin down the poison and reverse any effects it may have had. Until then, we'll give her the liquid form in her IV drip. The coma medicine has been taken off her, so she'll be under for another five or six hours, and then she'd be asleep but she should wake up. We'll continue to monitor her closely for the next few days until she's conscious and talking.' I nodded, every word he said taking a few more seconds to sink in and to process the meaning.

'Will the baby be okay?' I asked quietly and the doctor frowned at me.

'We have considered the foetus through every treatment to make it safe for the baby and all the medicines so far are safe for pregnant ladies, but we can't perform an ultrasound until Ella is conscious to sign it off, I'm afraid.' The doctor informed me and I nodded.

'Okay,'

'How are you feeling, Joe?'

'I'm okay,' I whispered. I felt fine, but I just couldn't continue when Ella was in this state. She looked so small and fragile in the hospital bed, her tiny frame not even taking up half the bed. Ella looked peaceful laying down, though, with wires coming out of her body everywhere, a line coming out of her neck, several IV lines in both her hands and elbows, little ECG pads on her chest to show her heart rate, a band on her upper arm for blood pressure, a bandage around her head where they had stitched up the massive cut on her head and her legs in sterile bandages too. They had put glue stitches in her shoulder where some of the shrapnel had hit her.

Not only were that, her family on the way over having been called up by Michael when we were "spotted" leaving at the beach in Bude like we hoped. By what I had heard, one of Ella's brothers had already landed in England and the others were in the air.

'Ella's a fighter – she'll be alright, Joe.' The doctor said, smiling slightly. They had got one of the Maui base doctors to come down to treat us both so they know the mission and what the injuries were. I hadn't seen him around before but normally there was always segregation between the base doctors and the actual workers. I just nodded, praying the doctor was right.

My leaned my weight onto the bed, looking at Ella as she slept. How did it all turn so sour so quickly? One second we were fine, and she just went to undo one bomb – she was on her way out by the looks of it – and it all went tits up. If I had told her to contact Michael, everything would have been fine. It would be me in the hospital bed in a coma, but at least Ella would be fine and the baby would be fine. All this was my fault. I would never forgive myself if something more would happen to them – anything more than what's already happened. I'm so sorry, Ella.

'I still don't like you playing around with my sister.' I heard someone say in the doorway and I looked up. Michael was standing watching over me as I held Ella's hand gently so I didn't dislodge any tubes.

'I'm not playing around with Ella,' I whispered, not looking forward to talking with Michael. Ella told me he would be fine once she explained it to him, and until then I shouldn't tell him that she's pregnant or that we're Soulfinder's because he was very temperamental and hot headed to start with and she wasn't too sure how he would react when not only did we tell him we were together, but Ella was also pregnant. We thought we'd be able to tell him together, but now I had to tell him over Ella's inert, unconscious damaged body whilst she was in a coma.

'What do you mean you're not messing around with Ella – look at her.' Michael gestured to Ella's body and I flinched, holding her cold hand a bit tighter.

'Seriously, Michael, I'm not messing around with her. I love her,' I whispered, hoping to see a muscle flinch in her face or something, something that shows me that she's okay and she'll be fine but nothing. She just remained still, like a statue. The only indication that she's alive is the slight rise and fall in her chest.

'Er... can you speak up a bit; I didn't quite get what you said over the sound of my confusion,'

'I said I love her, alright. I love her,'

'Then why did you let this happen to her,' He continued to dug.

'I don't know! I don't know what happened. If this could have happened to me I would have let it, I never wanted her to get hurt. I never wanted any of this,' I whispered the latter, resting my forehead on her hand trying desperately not to cry. The whole thing had just exhausted me but I couldn't sleep. I couldn't leave Ella alone. I had seen firsthand how much she hated hospitals and what state she would get herself into if she was left alone. No, I would stay with her until she was discharge and even then I wouldn't leave her – not after what happened last time.

'You actually care about her,' Michael muttered, sitting down on the chair on the other side of Ella's bed. He flinched as he actually looked at how bad Ella looked so I guessed he didn't really look at her until now.

'Yeah, of course,'

'What's actually wrong with her? They're not telling me anything – the last medical form she wrote out was in Barnstaple and put you as next of kin. They've told me nothing,' Michael explained, leaning back. As horrible as it sounds it was probably a silver lining, as I don't think Michael would be this calm if he realised Ella was pregnant.

'They've grafted the skin that was burnt and removed all the shrapnel and stitched up the wound on her head. They've also taken her off the drug that induced a medical coma so by the time the drug wears out her system and she sleeps it off it could be tomorrow, it could be later. They don't quite know yet what the full extent of the damage is until she wakes up,' I explained, brushing her hair of her head as Michael watched me intently.

'When were you born?' He asked and I knew what he was on about.

'Yeah, we're Soulfinders.' I whispered and he just looked at me, frowning.

'Seriously?'

'Yeah,'

'Right... Sorry about having a go but I just haven't seen her this bad since she attempted suicide. I need to go call some people and see if her family has arrived yet,' Michael said, smiling at me slightly as he got up out of the chair as I continued to hold Ella's freezing hand. I had a feeling he didn't overly believe me but he had every right not to believe me. If we took a moment to think about what Michael must have seen it would be terrible. He had heard from Ella about the one night stand, dealt with the aftermath of that, before sending his only sister off from a bomb threat to be picked up a few weeks later in the horrendous state she was in whilst I got away with just burns and a risk of infection. He would probably need Ella's confirmation to realise that we were together.

The room we were in was a private room, rented out by Maui to protect us if anyone had come in. They told the news they manage to get all four people from the warehouse straight into the detention block on Maui grounds, and the two guards of the younger man handed themselves in as well. Only the youngest man remained on the run so we had to go private to hide our location. The room was about twenty square feet, the army of machines around the top of Ella's bed, the medical chart hanging off the other side. As you walked in the room to the left was a private washroom, complete with shower and bath. A wardrobe was against the wall to the right of the bed with a sofa, which had one of the holdalls on it which had already been cleared of any bugs or tracking devices. A plasma TV was hinged to the wall but hadn't been turned on at all.

A man cleared his throat in the doorway, and I looked up immediately. A tall man, about the same height as me maybe a bit taller it was hard to tell was watching me intently, arms crossed his chest. He was in a pair of blue jeans and a grey shirt with a pair of light brown timberland.

'Joe?' He asked and I could hear the American accent within his voice.

'Yeah?'

'Thought so. How's Ella doing?'

'As best as she can, I guess. She's getting there,' I mumbled and he looked at me wondering what I said before he clicked it slightly late.

'I'm Ella's brother, if you're wondering. Xav,' He introduced himself.

'Joe,' I mumbled

'Yeah, you mentioned. Are you alright?' Xav asked me frowning at me and I just nodded. Ella had explained to me what all of her brothers do, but could I remember now? Absolutely not. 'You can't really function when Ella's like... this,' He looked over at Ella, wincing. I guess the last time he saw her she was perfectly fine and she was like this. But he didn't blame it on me.

'And you and her are together now, right?'

'Yeah,'

'Ha.' I looked up frowning. That was an odd reply. 'When she wakes up, can you tell she owes me and Crystal a trip to iHop? I'll be back in a second.'

What?


	50. Chapter 50 - Joe

**A/N: Merry Christmas everyone! I just kind of thought I would say thank you to everyone who had read along this far and we are getting to the end of this book. However, as a Christmas present to everyone dedicating to reading this tonight, about 7pm GMT I will post, under this book, the first draft of the squeal to this. Yeah, that's right a sequel! It'll be a similar style to this one, but focused on an abused girl, Lucy, and Joe's best friend Jason. I know what you may be thinking - either you haven't heard of Jason in ages or he's not a Savant, and relief to everyone he comes back in the Chapter 51 after this, so I'll put that up before the draft of Chapter 1 of _"Shattering Lucy"._ So yeah, Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you all have a wonderful happy day and a joyful New Year!**

* * *

Chapter 50 – Joe

 _4:18pm, the next day_

The doctor's had already given Ella the all clear from the coma drug. All of the drug has been worked out of her system and her heart rate, body temperature and blood pressure had returned to normal. Her breathing was consistent and she had started to move a bit more even though she remained asleep. In the early hours of this morning she seemed to have surfaced a bit more in what looked like a nightmare, mumbling something incoherent before squeezing my hand and then nothing. However, whilst they couldn't perform an ultrasound as it wasn't strictly medical needs – something Maui was tight about – they put a heart rate monitor on Ella's stomach and managed to find the heartbeat for the baby so we knew the baby was fine. I had never been more relieved when I heard the sturdy beat of my child but I wished more than anything Ella would have been there to hear it with me. But she was getting there at least.

I had met the majority of her family by myself, explaining to them all what had happened to her and how she ended up as bad as she did. However, I didn't tell them that we were together and we were Soulfinders, and I most definitely didn't tell them that we were also expecting a baby. I was brave – but really not that brave. I think I've met all but one of the brothers, the other one stuck in Colorado doing the American side of the paperwork for the FBI for Ella, so if she wants too she can fly back over there as soon as she can. Xav, who knew everything, told Vick that she'd stay over here for a while as she won't have medical clearance to fly for a while so at least it gave us time to work it all out.

Smiling down at her, I held her hand a bit tighter. The drip had been taken out of both hands (one provided saline solution, the others medicines but she was now only on one in her hand, and she was managing to hold my hand back slightly. Not firmly, but there was some muscle control there. My Dad cleared his throat as he watched me check up on Ella. Not wanting to seem so clingy and desperate for her to resurface, I checked the vitals on the screen but not once did I let go of Ella's hand.

'I'm so glad you found your girl, even if she is a bit roughed up at the moment,' Mum said for what was probably the eighteenth hundredth time in the last two hours. They had come to visit me but when I told them about Ella, and announced that we were Soulfinder's they sat in the room, lingering like a bad smell as if she'd wake up any time soon. I mean – Mum even squealed when I kissed her forehead when I came back into the room but that wasn't enough to wake her.

'Thanks,'

'Look, we should be going now. Visiting hours are over now but you call us the second she wakes up – I want to meet her properly, you hear!'

'Darling, leave him alone. And Emma probably won't be up for meeting you when you're this excited as she's just come out of a coma,' Dad explained to Mum, holding her hand.

'It's Ella.' I corrected Dad, knowing the look Ella would have given him if she was up, despite the fact it was a sincere mistake. Apparently I wasn't speaking properly and was murmuring everything I was saying – I was still in "shock" – so I must have murmured her name and he misheard it for Emma. Awkward.

'Oh, yeah, Ella. I'm so happy for you son, she seems like a wonderful young lady. We'll let you two rest now, but do call us when she wakes up and we'll be in the next day,' Dad explained. About ten minutes later I manage to usher them out of the ward, both of them kissing my cheek and telling me to tell them the second Ella woke up. I slowly walked back into Ella's room, rubbing my eyes completely shattered but not wanting to rest in case Ella woke up alone. I turned around the corner of the room to find Ella laying on her side, looking at the door, her eyes open and shining, but looked slightly glazed over too.

'Ella!' I practically yelled as I ran over to the side of the bed, crouching slightly as I held her cold hand. It took her a second or two, but she squeezed my hand in return as I brushed her blonde hair off her forehead which was sticky with sweat. I guess her body had started to fight the coma drug and the infection from the toxins on shrapnel.

'Thank God that's over,' She muttered, her throat croaky from having the tube stuck down her throat for the duration of the operation, the flight down here and whilst she was classed as being comatose.

I quickly wrapped my arms around her, not wanting to ever let go of her again. With my arm tightly around and her shoulders, I could feel her start to cry as I gently ran my hands through her hair. I had accidently pulled her up so she was sitting up slightly.

'Don't ever do that to me again,' I whispered furiously in her ear and she shook her head. I wouldn't let her out my sight ever again, and most definitely not to disable bombs again. Hell, I just won't let her out of my sight again that will stop her. I would always be with her.

'How long have you actually been awake for?' I whispered, keeping my arms around her but pulling away so I could see her face.

'Since your parents started squealing.'

'That was like two hours ago!'

She pulled back a tiny bit more and I wiped a tear from her cheek. 'Oh, I must have fallen asleep again and then here we are,' I climbed into the hospital bed with her as she fell back onto my chest.

'How do you feel, hun?' I asked as she completely curled up into my chest and I noticed she was moving both of her legs which were such a good sign – so she wasn't paralysed.

'Rough... tired,' She whispered.

'How are your legs? Xav tried to heal the burns as much as he could without causing suspicion.'

'What happened to my legs?'

'You got badly burnt, Ella?' I whispered, brushing her hair off her forehead as she continued to frown at me. How concussed was she?

'How?'

'Don't you remember? A small bomb went off or something and you fell and got injured. You hit your head pretty hard. You must be concussed.' I gently touched the bandage on her head and she did the same, jolting slightly when she realised the bandage was there. She pressed a bit harder and started swaying so I put my arm around her again. 'You were knocked unconscious and you had all types of burns. They've operated and done skin grafts. Xav's come over and tried to make sure they don't regret and scar too bad.'

'We're in Colorado.' She stated, frowning.

'No, we're in Plymouth – Cornwall still. Your family has come over from America to see you.'

'Why? How did they know?' She looked over confused and I realised how concussed she was. I kissed her forehead not to touch the bandage and the bruise around it. 'Why can't I remember anything, Joe?' She whispered, tears thick in her voice.

'You hit your head incredibly hard, Ella, you've just got really bad concussion. You'll be fine though, baby, promise.'

'But how are my family here? They haven't had enough time to fly over?'

'Michael called them all – you've been out for nearly two days now. They all booked the first flight that was free to come over and see you.' She frowned at me just looking completely baffled. 'They care about you Ella, and they love you as well. That's why they came over.'

'Are you just visiting, too?'

'No, El, I've been with you since you passed out. Well, I've been with you since we went down to Cornwall – you remember that?'

'I remember us going to an island, and you were outside and I was in and I was playing around with the bombs unplugging them and as I went to find you... that's all I can remember. Why are you still with me?' She probed. She must be so confused and so concussed – the brain swelling hadn't gone down as quickly as they thought so everyone expected her to be this confused, but they weren't the ones dealing with it. I had hoped that she would wake up completely fine and able to remember exactly what had happened because we were all in the dark. One second she was fine, the next second she was on the floor half dead. We all knew there must have been a small bomb that hit her but why didn't she call for help?

'Because I love you, Ella, and I promised I wouldn't leave you so I'm not. I'm staying right here with you. I love you, baby.'

'Wait... baby? Is the baby okay?' She whispered, putting her hand across her stomach but leaning against me entirely. I put my hand there as well, linking fingers.

'They can't do an ultrasound for some bullshit reason, but they found the baby's heartbeat. She's okay, she's alive – her heartbeat is normal.' I whispered, nuzzling my nose against Ella's temple, kissing her cheek.

'Good, good,' she nodded but felt the whack of exhaustion hit her again. 'I'm so tired, Joe.'

'Go to sleep, hun. I'll still be here when you wake up.'

'Promise,'

'Yeah, of course I promise. I promise forever that I'll always be here.' I muttered and she nodded, falling asleep on my chest like she normally did almost instantly – and I didn't take long to fall asleep either.


	51. Chapter 51 - Joe

Chapter 51 – Joe

 _Four days later, mid-afternoon_

I waited by the front door of the Plymouth hospital, waiting for Jason to arrive. Ella had just been given the doctors all clear to head back up to Guildford and back to Maui to continue treatment but she could finally be discharged from hospital care. The doctors had realised she wasn't resting and was constantly tense and when they questioned me why I simply said she hated hospitals due to a childhood trauma and they got their asses in gear and signed the referral sheets. They said Ella was well enough to remain at home but would have to head to base, accompanied by me, for more observations and testing's. Not only that, we phone up the nearest maternity ward in the Royal Berkshire hospital to book in an ultrasound for the baby, and that was in just over a week's time. More good news followed – the people in charge with living arrangements had heard about Ella and I being together had managed to bring forward the lease on my flat and included her as well in the tenants agreement, meaning we would be moving into our own flat on the third floor in a quiet park in just over three days. Not only that we had read the small print on Maui's paperwork and highlighted an article stating if a couple who both work at Maui are expecting a child they can upgrade to a house but would have to show a medical statement showing the child is healthy and we'd have to run it past Susan too –but that was to come. We were more than happy to have a temporary stay at the flat.

But it meant as Ella was getting discharged now, but the flat wasn't ready for another few days, we would be floating around for a while. I was more than happy to rent a hotel room for us both for those empty days but my parent's had different ideas. They refused to let us stay in a "skanky hotel" on our first night together (clearly, they had no idea what happened at the party and even what happened in Cornwall. I think they would both, as devout Christians, we absolutely mortified with the things Ella and I got up to in that time) and had somehow agreed to let Ella stay with us for a while. Michael offered too but said he wanted us to stay in separate rooms, before Ella had yet another go at him for being childish. Mum however agreed to let us both stay in my room.

Michael wasn't too fussed about us being together. I think he had started to realise that neither of us were really messing around (well...) but it was slightly awkward when Ella had first woke up without remembering anything then we both fell asleep in each other's embrace and he walked in about ten minutes later. But it was then he realised how happy Ella must have been, and how comfortable too, that she was actually _sleeping_ and sleeping on me. But he still had to get Ella to confirm we were Soulfinders, and we loved each other, and we didn't plan on leaving each other any time soon. And then cue the older brother talk again. But he was slowly coming around on the idea and seemed to be alright with me – but neither of us knew how he would react when we told him Ella was pregnant.

The whole pregnancy was very secret from everyone. It was a great, big dirty secret but Ella said she would rather make sure the baby was completely fine and healthy before telling anyone and I completely agreed. I knew some would be more supporting than others but we were too scared to tell our families so we settled for the next best thing. We needed a test rat to tell, so who better than Jason.

We called him yesterday night as we both sat on Ella's hospital bed, us sharing the surprisingly good hospital food they catered for us (with massive portion sizes). We were watching Don't Tell The Bride, possible one of the more funnier reality shows as we both eye rolled at the atrocious dress the groom had picked out for his bride.

The phone rang four times before he picked up.

'We need to speak about your timings, Joseph, I told you to call me back after Ella's tests were done. Not call me back when Ella's tests were done and then two days later,' He instructed and Ella pulled an approving face.

'We've been busy,'

'I heard hospitals are an incredibly busy place for patients – yeah, heard that a lot.'

'Alright, calm down with the sarcasm. Do you want to come down and meet Ella or not?' I asked him and heard him pause the X-Box.

'Will she hate me?' Jason asked and he actually sounded terrified. To be fair, I was terrified of Ella's judgement before I got to know her – and even knowing her didn't ease the fear of her quick minded ways.

'Potentially,' Ella whispered and I laughed.

'She said potentially,' I repeated a bit louder as Ella hit my arm embarrassed but Jason just chuckled.

'Okay, yeah I'll come down. When do you need me there to tailgate you home? Be your security man for your lady,'

'Well, they said they're discharging her within twenty four hours. Don't bother driving down in the night – tomorrow morning perhaps? Afternoon?'

'Yeah, I'll leave tomorrow morning. See you then, bro, text me too.'

So I arranged for him to come down and meet Ella and she was terrified of him not liking her. She kept saying "bro's before hoe's" which irritated me because as I pointed out, she's not a hoe, and they'll get on like a house on fire. But Ella said we could just tell him everything so he can have our backs as well. I agreed, and Jason had just text me saying he was ten minutes away from the hospital. I ran down into the car park, leaving Ella alone in the room with a hot water bottle and a bottle of Coca-cola to keep her sugar levels up and was standing next to the car they recovered from the beach car park we left it in. So at least it was like a piece of comfort. A few minutes later, Jason parked his silver four door Corsa into the bay next to mine. He took a moment before climbing out the driver's seat.

'God, you look like shit,' was the first thing he said as we hugged.

'Thanks,'

'You doing okay? Where's Ella?'

'Oh, care more about the girl then you do about me?' I joked, starting to lead him back into the hospital.

 _He's just arrived, we'll be up in a second._

 _Oh crap – is he in a good mood? Will he hate me?_ Ella panicked.

 _Ella, baby, it'll be fine. He already likes you, it'll be fine. We'll be up there soon, just try and relax honey._

'Stop daydreaming on me.' Jason snapped his fingers in front of my face. 'I said is Ella in a good mood, will she hate me?'

'Oh my God.' I simply said, seeing the similarities among those two. It was almost uncanny the way they echoed each other. 'She's fine, yeah, she's good.'

'Urh, you're so loved up. How did Mr. Scared-of-commitment get himself this deep in a loving relationship with someone as nice as Ella Benedict. Jeez, I mean, you have balls and shit but well done for tackling the only female in the Benedict's – you don't want to be hearing how worried they've all been for her when you were gone and both of you were reported missing because you douches threw the black boxes into the bloody Pacific.'

'The black boxes were traceable –' Ella had realised this near enough the second we touched down and she had stolen mine and telekinetically threw it into the Pacific, as far away from us as we could but it was too late, the data had already been tracked which is how they found our position at the safe house. 'We did what we needed too.'

'You could have left a note. A little "Hey, we're not dead just on the run". I thought my best friend was dead for over a week. I was writing your eulogy when Jake phone up and told me you were both caught on Maui camera's dicking around outside the offices in Bournemouth and seemed perfectly fine.' Jason explained. Ella's move, the Bournemouth step, as she realised when she projected back they thought we were missing and assumed dead. Neither of us wanted that strain on our family so we did what we needed to – keeping us safe but letting them know we're good. We both thought it was great fun to climb the fences as the paperwork centre for Maui in Bournemouth, run around for a while under all the CCTV paths before sitting there glaring at one for a while before leaving. I'm glad it worked.

'What did you say in my eulogy?'

'Never showing.'

'Alright,' We got to the ward where Ella was staying and I paused. 'Go easy on her, she's still not okay. She's very injured, still concussed, struggling to remember things and she's tired all the time too.'

'Okay,' Jason breathed deeply. 'Time to face the music.'

I pushed the door open to the ward, pausing to greet the nurses at the nursing station immediately in front of us before walking past and into Ella's room. I caught sight of Ella immediately and she looked terrified, curled up in the blanket on the sofa, knees to her chest. Jason awkwardly stood in the doorway as I paced over to Ella, making sure she was okay.

'You alright?' I whispered and she nodded. 'Ella, this is Jason. Jason, Ella.'

'Hey,' Ella mumbled, leaning into my side as I put an arm around her. Never knew she could be shy.

'Hey,' Jason replied back awkwardly, sidestepping in the door.

'Is he going to get his ass in the room or no?' Ella meant to have whispered but ended up speaking at a normal volume, causing Jason to laugh and come in to sit on the end of Ella's bed.

'How you feeling?' Jason asked Ella and she nodded.

'Alright, I guess.' She mumbled, nodding. She had perfected that lie her first day in hospital to keep the doctors at bay.

 _You can tell Jason._ Ella mind nudged me.

 _We can both tell him._

 _Are you chickening out of telling your best friend you got your girlfriend pregnant?_ Ella practically laughed at me.

 _Yeah, only slightly. I don't know how to tell him!_

 _Just be like "hey, we got something to tell you. You're going to be a Godparent."_ Ella commented and I looked at her confused.

 _Woah – when did we establish he'd be a Godparent?!_

 _You totally said "yeah, I want Jason to be the non-Savant Godparent that baby would need" the other day – that I remember._ Ella commented and Jason just smiled comically as he looked on at us two staring at each other.

'You two quite done talking telepathically yet?' He joked, and Ella looked at me nudging me on.

'Er, we got something to tell you, Jason.'

'Oh my, you're engaged. Called it.' Jason joked and Ella widened her eyes and looked at me. Oh God – how do I recover from this one.

'Er, no. Ella's pregnant.'

'Excuse me?' Jason said.

'Ella's pregnant.'

'Eh? Like...' He gestured a massive bump and Ella wrinkled her nose but continue to grin.

'Ella's pregnant.'

'I don't...' Jason continued to stutter.

'Ella's pregnant.'

'I think he's got it, Joe, I think you're good.' Ella comically said as I repeated the line for the fourth time.

'Like, seriously? Are you?' Jason asked and Ella just nodded, curling up into me.

'Oh my, my babies are growing up!' Jason came over and hugged us both at the same time. Ella hesitated for a second before laughing slightly and hugging him back but held my hand the entire time. 'How far along?'

'Er, we don't know yet.' Ella mumbled and Jason raised his eyebrow. 'Probably about twelve weeks – we're assuming at the party but there could be a few more dates...' Ella slowly died down her words as Jason continued to look at her. I grinned at her. 'Quite a few more... before we found out...'

'Alright, calm down you two – but at the party? Really? I knew good things came out of you being drunk, Joe! My little baby boy is going to be a Dad!' Jason grinned as Ella came up to lean into me. I put my arm around her again, kissing her forehead as she grinned up at me. Gently I put my hand on her stomach, which only had the smallest of bumps that I assume could be possible. 'Aw, you two! How you feeling, though, Ella?'

'Good,' She drawed out for a second but Jason didn't believe her.

'You can just say if you're in pain, Ella.'

'How did you know?' Ella shot back immediately frowning as I telekinetically moved the bottle of painkillers over to her, giving her the evils for not telling me. She looked at me apologetically before taking two of the tablets, throwing the bottle back on the bed.

'I could just tell. Oh wait, shit, totally left the chocolates in the car. I was going to get flowers but the hospital has a no flower policy bullshit.' Jason explained, getting up to go back down to the car.

'Are you sure he's not a Savant?' Ella said immediately and I frowned at her.

'Why didn't you say you were in pain?'

'I was fine,'

'Clearly not – that was the easiest I've got you take your tablets ever.'

'Joe , please just leave it.' She whispered, curling up into my side again and my resolve disappeared. I couldn't remain mad at her. There was something definitely wrong with Ella – she was on about feeling a wave of power from the Savant's and then suddenly she was constantly tired and weak. As much as I looked around her brain I couldn't work out what was wrong with her. Her brother, Zed, was due to come over as soon as he finished another task for the FBI and got the clearance and hopefully he can find the reason but that wouldn't be for another four days at least.

'Sorry, but he's not a Savant.'

'Are you sure?'

'Yeah, I've snooped a bit before I told him we even exist and there was nothing, why?'

'I think he might be, he didn't just guess I was in pain. But not only that my brain wanted to snatch whatever he was doing...'

'He was using his gift... but he doesn't have one.' I mumbled.

'Maybe he just never knew? Don't tell him anything, but I got a feeling that he is a Savant and can do what Xav can.' She looked over at me, frowning. I rubbed my thumb over the frown crease in the middle of her eyebrows.

'We'll find out soon enough, then. Come on, let's get your stuff packed up.'


	52. Chapter 52 - Joe

Chapter 52 – Joe

 _00:52am_

I drove the blue car down my parent's street, marvelling at how little it had changed in the month that I was gone. I'm not too sure what I expected to change, but everything about me had changed in the month that I was gone, but my street – the same street I've lived in since we were relocated – had not changed at all. I slowed the car down before driving over the drop curb and into the front garden, where my car had normally sat. However, I told Maui I preferred the brand new blue car they gave us when we went down to Cornwall in comparison to the shitty old Corsa I had that kept breaking, so they took away my old Corsa (good riddance) to let me keep this car. Well, to let Ella and I to keep t his car. I dimmed the headlights, scared of waking my parents at this stupid time in the morning.

We had got back to Maui the same day as we left, trailing Jason's car, and Ella was admitted straight into hospital again for the baseline tests. She had fallen asleep during them, bless her, but we had to wake her up to sign the paperwork. Susan wanted her to stay the night but I protested. We compromised, saying I'll bring her in about half ten the next day and she couldn't really decline considering the fact Ella was asleep in my arms. So I managed to get Ella home, with her in the passenger seat head lolled against the door with a blanket over her as I drove the hour drive home in silence.

I cut off the engine, but even before the keys were out the ignition both my Mum and Dad had come out of the house in their nightclothes and was standing by the car. Probably hoping to meet Ella properly – they had only done so once since we left Cornwall and that was for about ten minutes before Ella was taken away to have yet another blood dialysis done. Since then, they had been dying to meet her and talk to her properly but I didn't want to wake her up. I told them that she was uncomfortable with being in cars. Knowing them they saw an opportunity to see what she's like when she's awake but it backfired. I opened the drivers' door.

'What the Hell are you doing up? I said I'd let myself in,' I whispered at Mum as she crouched down to look through the window.

'Is Ella awake?'

'No, she's asleep like a normal human is at this time.'

'Why is she always asleep, Joe, is there something wrong with her?' Mum whined.

'Maui thinks one of the Savant's in the warehouse did something to her to make her constantly tired, her brother is coming over in a few days time to figure something out and see what we can do. She's starting to fight it a lot more, though.' I explained, closing the door.

'Will she be okay, though?' Dad asked as I walked around the car.

'Maui said she'll be fine, just give her some time.' I explained, opening Ella's door before unclicking her seatbelt and picking her up, adjusting the blanket back around her telekinetically. She smiled slightly in her sleep, nursling her head into my chest.

'She's so adorable – you two are so well matched!' Mum exclaimed and I pulled a face at her as she hugged Dad.

'I think even better suited than Jake and Leannah – don't tell them I said that,'

'I'm so telling him.' I whispered, locking the door before resting the car keys on Ella's stomach. Jeez, they were getting so excited just seeing me being around her, they will literally have an aneurysm when they find out she's pregnant. 'I'm just going to go straight to bed. Thanks for staying up even though you said you wouldn't.'

'We're talking anyway, son, it's fine.' Dad argued back, gesturing for me to take Ella upstairs with her.

'Love you guys,'

'Love you too.' They both said in sync as I carried Ella upstairs.

'N'aw, they're adorable too.' Ella mumbled as I kicked open the door to my bedroom. I rolled my eyes at her as she just grinned, before opening one eye at me.

'Well of course you were awake.' I hissed.

'Your parents don't exactly do quiet, do they?'

'Hey, they're just excited.' I kissed her gently, placing her on my side of the bed before hesitating. It looks like my parents couldn't wait for me to get out of her and had already packed up the majority of my belongings – all I had left was furniture and stacks of cardboard boxes.

'Someone's looking forward to a free house,'

'Yeah, us.' I whispered, sitting on the floor as she laid on my bed, not bothering to get up.

'You see, I know you meant us two being together or whatever but it also sounds really dirty.' She mumbled, hugging her blanket to her chest.

'Ella, this is exactly what got us into the baby predicament to start with,' I whispered.

'I still don't know what to do,' She said back, tearing up as I took off my jeans and my shirts – my boxers being a good enough pyjama for me as Ella already had hers on before climbing into bed beside her, rolling her over so she could lay on my chest like she normally does.

'Hun, it'll be fine. You're overtired and stressed, just take some time to relax. We can discuss everything properly tomorrow – I'll text Susan in the morning saying you haven't woken up so we can move it to the afternoon and we can have a nice cuppa and sit and talk everything through, alright?'

'You sure,'

'Of course I am Ella.' I whispered.

'Alright... I'm going to go pee.' She whispered, jumping up and walking across the bedroom floor silently, jumping the floorboards she already knew were squeaky so my parents didn't come running up to meet her.

A few minutes later, when I heard the tap running and the flush but Ella never came back into the room I got up to find Ella standing by the top of the stairs.

'What are you doing?'

'Listen,' She whispered. I stood beside her and managed to hear my parents conversation downstairs. 'They're talking about grandkids.'

'Who? Amelia and –'

'I don't think I want any more grandkids just yet!' Dad laughed loudly and Ella's face completely sunk. Not words to boost her doubt about having a kid. She just wanted to do something that she wanted to do, but make everyone happy with her as well. I knew that she wanted to keep the baby and wanted nothing more than me and the baby to be safe, but she didn't want to upset anyone else in the process. I was just convincing her that she'd be fine with the baby and it can just be me and her – we were the only ones this choice involved and she was so nearly convinced. Not anymore.

'Ella, come on,' I pulled her into my room closing the door tightly behind her as she fell into my chest again with her hands over her eyes as she cried. I sighed, wrapping my arms around her. Overtired Ella was very emotional and would cry over the slightest things but to make things worse hormones had started to kick in now. 'They don't mean it like that – I know they don't.'

'What do they mean then?' She whispered.

'I dunno, but they don't mean it in the way you're thinking. Come on, let's get you to bed. You look shattered.' Ella mumbled something illiterate and as she went to walk away, I scooped her up again.

'I can walk, Joe, I have legs.'

'Yeah but this is a lot more fun, slightly more romantic, also your legs are injured and I can do this.' I dropped her on the bed and crawled up so I was on top of her before kissing her.

'Smooth.'

'Thanks – come on then, sleepy time.'

We were both fast asleep before my parents had come upstairs.

The next morning, as the arm on the clock brushed past five minutes on the eighth hour I heard a sharp knock on the door. Squinting against the light streaming into the bedroom, another round of knocks on the door occurred. I frowned, instantly alert and ready to move like we had to be in the hotel rooms we visited, or even in the safehouse but it took me a few seconds to realise that we were both safe now – the youngest guy of the three handed himself in a few hours ago. I looked down at Ella and sure enough she was still fast asleep in my arms. I must have rolled over in my sleep as now I was on my side, both arms around Ella as she curled up asleep. She was dead to the Earth and wouldn't be waking up any time soon. I smiled at her, kissing her forehead gently as she curled back into me probably for warmth – despite being hot in the bedroom she was freezing.

The door pushed open and I saw my Mum walk in wearing her work clothes holding a mug of coffee in one hand, and a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles and marshmallows on top of the other – for Ella, clearly. I smiled at her gratefully as she delicately put them down on the bedside cabinet.

'Is she awake yet?' Mum whispered and I've never heard her so excited. She was so excited to have what would be another daughter to her. Carly was never a girly girl and was more into her sports and masculine stuff than all the rest of us boys were, and Mum didn't overly care. Now, however, when she realised she can't go for spa days out or long days shopping she wanted someone to go with her – a daughter who would be willing to wear dresses. Leannah was a good substitute but I think Mum now wanted another girl to shop with. Behold, Ella.

I also woke up three in the morning when Susan text and looked at the family group Whatsapp chat, which for some reason I was added into even though it included all of Mum's brothers and sisters, my aunts and uncles. None of them knew how to delete me from the group so I just hovered there, never replying but reading all of the conversations. I was really good at predicting what I'd get for my birthday.

But last night the message from my Mum to the group said.

"Shouldn't be telling you this but I am so happy – Joe's found his Soulfinder!" I was slightly annoyed, but then relieved. At least I didn't have to tell so many people now.

"!" Was my uncles reply and I rolled my eyes.

"Who is the lucky lady?" Uncle Mati replied.

"This is the interesting part – do you remember last year when we all met the Benedict's in Glasgow on a conference? I said I'd take the boys but none of them could make it so we just all went instead?" Mum said, adding some emojis. Oh God – Jake thought it would be a hilarious idea to get her an iPhone. Now he would be regretting it.

"Yeah, we remember them... where are you going with this, Samara?" Aunt Tabatha asked and Mum replied with a smiley emoji.

"We thought none of them was the right age for any of the kids, but I've only just found out from Joe and Jake some things. Ella Benedict is actually adopted – she used to be an Evan's before that horrific car crash. Jake's friend Michael is her brother, and they were separated for safety reasons. We all thought Ella was late teens, but she's a month older than Joe. They are each other's Soulfinders!"

"No! Joe with a Benedict?"

"Good luck to our nephew!"

I locked my phone and fell back to sleep, rolling my eyes but grinning at how much they thought they knew about Ella. Everyone thought she was so confident, and in some ways she was but in others she was so shy and nervous about everything.

'No, she's still asleep. She's not very well at the moment,' I whispered over the top of Ella's head. Mum looked panicked before looking down at Ella still asleep. She was just worried for her – I knew that – but still. She just wanted to meet Ella – her and Dad were jointly tied with excitement to meet her properly.

'Will she be okay?'

'She should be fine – I told you this yesterday.'

'Okay, I was hoping she'd be up before we go to work but she does need her rest if shes ill.' Mum bit her lip but still didn't leave the room.

'Hopefully, she'll be up when you're home tonight,'

'Yeah, yeah okay then. Well, we need to leave now. Tell her we said to get well soon and she's welcomed into the family no matter what,' Mum smiled before eventually leaving the room, closing the door. Five minutes later the door closed and we could hear the engine of the car starting and fading as it drove down the street.

'They won't be so welcoming when they know I'm pregnant –' Ella whispered and I moved back from her slightly to see her sob slightly.

'Ella, stop it, you know they will. Why are you saying this?' I whispered to her. I knew she just had a lot of things on her mind. She explained to me in Cornwall she always got overwhelmed if she couldn't make a plan and knew everything will be okay. She could only believe words to a certain extent. She never said too much about the baby, or managed to change the subject when we were down in Cornwall. She always said we didn't know the situation after we got out of the threat so we couldn't really plan. Now, we could. But he hadn't because of the fact she was so tired all the time. A lot of things were playing on her mind, the baby was one of them.

'You heard them last night,'

'You muppet. They meant they still think they're too young to be grandparents then two come along at the same time. They didn't mean what they think they do.'

'Are you sure?'

'Of course I am.' I whispered, playing with some strands on her hair.

'Joe,' She mumbled, avoiding eye contact completely. I hummed slightly as she continued to look around the room. 'If we can settle down and financially support the baby, can we actually keep the baby?'

'Of course we can. You know how much I've always wanted kids. It doesn't change anything if the baby was a mistake or planned, I will always want her.' I said, kissing her neck.

'You referred to the baby as a girl again.' She mumbled, smiling at me.

'Sorry! I don't mean too!' I whispered.

'But we can,'

'Yeah of course we can, think about it. We're getting our own flat in two days. We have the ultrasound in three days, then Maui would give us our own house. I'm not too sure if you've seen the emails from the Government about the compensation we'd get. Of course we can. Come on, let's get food and discuss this properly,'


	53. Chapter 53 - Ella

**Chapter 53 – Ella**

I stripped off the stupid pyjamas I have been wearing in hospital in rotation with some other pairs and was tempted to throw them straight into the bin. Karla decided to stop off at Marks and Spencer's in duty free in order to buy me some clothes. She had received the phone call saying we were spotted leaving Summerleaze beach and it might be wise to head back over in case everything blows up – actual words from the admin team, bet they feel pretty shit now about it. And she did. Her and Saul packed their bags and were on the first flight over. She had landed a few hours after everything kicked off on the island and I was in theatre. So what did Karla do best? Buy awful looking clothes to deck me in whilst I had no obligation to scream my horror at them. I knew she was trying, but satin? Really?

But I didn't have much else to wear, so I made do with the satin burgundy old lady baggy pyjama bottoms until Will saved my actual life and brought me some trackies from Primark (after having more stern words to Joe about what he'd do if Joe hurts me) but they hurt to wear. My legs were still really burnt and the grafts were just settling in without rejection and were tender and the cuffed hem bottoms rubbed against one of the graft marks, causing irritation. So for the journey home in the car, then to Maui and back again I had to wear the satin odd things Karla had brought me.

But I had never seen Mum so excited before. Like it was something else. She greeted Joe with such a welcoming smile before hugging him – a middle aged woman a tiny bit taller than me hugging Joe as Joe panicked was hilarious. She then demanded everything from Joe. All about his childhood, brother and sisters, nieces and nephews, uncles, aunts, how we met and everything. Karla sat for about four hours as Joe explained his whole life story (I fell asleep in this time, too, not that Karla noticed,) and she invited us both over to stay for a few weeks the second I was allowed on a plane.

I pressed the button in the shower to turn on the water, adjusting the temperature before looking at my legs, pulling a face of disgust. The marks of each burn and graft were still prominent – but I had only had it done less than a week ago. Xav tried to heal them but focused on my head and other main injures and said he would visit in the next day or two to attempt to tackle my legs. But my legs were swollen and red and looked horrific. I then looked at my stomach, where only the slightest of bumps had appeared. Currently, a pancake would have more rises to it but I noticed it was there and so did Joe. The smallest of bumps, only visible when I didn't have a shirt on. Jeez, I need to stop daydreaming and have a shower. It's been god knows how long since my last shower.

About fifteen minutes later, I jumped out and tied my hair into the towel like I normally do at home after patting myself dry, wincing as I touched my legs. I looked at the fresh laundry pile – just visible from where I opened the door and grabbed the first shirt that was there. It was one Joe had got when he was down in Cornwall, but doubled also as my pyjama shirt. The design was meant to be long on men so it came down just past my bum – ideal. Joe's parents weren't meant to be home any time soon and the doctors had told me to "air" the grafts. This seemed like the best thing I could do at the moment.

I crept down the stairs and could hear the very rapid typing of Joe on his laptop. From the sound of the noise, it seemed like he was in the kitchen. Not to make him jump I walked down the stairs, turning the corner and ran into the kitchen. Joe looked up quickly, closing the screen on his laptop before getting up and putting the kettle on the boil again.

'How was your shower?' He asked, looking at my bare legs. Rather than wincing, like I did, he just raised an eyebrow.

'I've never been so thankful to have a shower ever, but what were you doing?'

'Just some paperwork,' He lied, avoiding eye contact.

'Liar.'

'I was doing paperwork.'

'On what? We've only just got back!' I laughed, sitting down on one of the chairs at the kitchen table as he dug out the hot chocolate power from the kitchen cupboards. I marvelled at their kitchen – clearly Joe's parents were very proud of their house and must have spent a lot on this kitchen. It honestly looked like it could star in next month IDEAL home magazine. 'That reminds me, pass me your phone.'

He took the phone from the kitchen side and threw it at me and I caught it. Unlocking it, I pressed the phone book button and found Susan's number, dialling it before Joe could even ask what I was doing.

'Joe, just the person I needed to speak too. How's Ella? What time are you both coming in today?'

'Hi!' I replied back.

'Oh, Ella,' was all Susan managed to say.

'I won't be coming in today; I'm calling in sick,'

'Ella, you can't really call in sick to a hospital appointment.'

'Good point. I'm calling in perfectly healthy then,' I joked and heard Susan tut as I grinned at Joe who just continued to give me such a dirty look for doing something this stupid but he didn't stop me. I knew Joe well enough to know that now we were out of the woods he just wanted a day out to calm down and relax.

'Ella, I know you don't like hospital appointments and you may feel perfectly well but we just need the standard battery of tests done to confirm you are perfectly safe and well so we can send off the information to the leading Government branch in charge of military services so you can get the compensation you deserve,' Susan explained.

'You know you should really star in those Injury Lawyers adverts on TV. I'm fine, really.' I protested.

'Ella,'

'Look, I just need a rest. I can come in tomorrow if you need me too. I just want a day without having to travel at all and just relax. Please,' I made my voice break knowing the affect me pretending to cry on Susan had.

'Okay, Ella, but we do need you in tomorrow for that battery of tests and then again next week for the female clinic but everyone has to go to that. The implant they put us all on had a fault that could cause in it breaking so they're just changing them over,'

'Oh, the implant that Maui gave us was faulty and could break – so some people could be pregnant? Jeez, that would be bad and unforeseen. That would lead to some interesting reveals.' I said comically, pulling a face at Joe who just did a spit take on his coffee.

'Yeah, well hopefully not. Anyway, I'll call you later and see how you're getting on. You rest now,' Susan said before hanging up.

'You little shit,' Joe whispered, putting his hand gently on my waist as he kissed me. 'I love it,'

'Well I got it from somewhere,' I laughed. 'Probably from Colorado,'

'Jeez, could be interesting when we go over there.' Joe mumbled, taking my hand and leading me into the living room.

'Uh, we still need to book the flights over there.' I said to him as I sat down on the sofa as he knelt on the floor in front of me.

'Might have already done that,'

'Er?' I joked, and he rubbed my exposed knee slightly.

'I'm afraid we have a few busy weeks.' He explained and I sighed. 'Well, we have tomorrow off, then we're moving Thursday, got the ultrasound Monday morning then Wednesday we're going on holiday for a few days but I'm not telling you where. We come back Sunday and then Tuesday after at ten we're flying out to Colorado,'

'We're going on holiday?' I gasped.

'We have to stay in England though; you can't fly for another two weeks. I booked the flights on the first day you're allowed too.' Joe said regretfully.

'No, that's perfect, thank you.' I launched myself at him, knocking him on his back as I hugged him. He gently laughed to himself, putting his arm around my waist as I laid down on top of him for a second, super thankful that he didn't just leave me in that hospital in Devon and he was still here for me. 'Thank you,'

'Don't thank me, you deserve this,' He mumbled into my hair as his phone vibrated. He brought the phone up to look at what it said and sighed again. I looked up at him, frowning, as he locked his phone. 'Mum,' he answered my unspoken question.

'Oh?'

'She wants us to go out to lunch with her and Dad, but has stressed only if you feel well enough too.'

'I'm scared, what if they hate me?' I mumbled. 'What if it'll be awkward?'

'It'll be fine, hun, they'll love you. Honestly, they really will. Also, if we go and you don't like them we can go find somewhere else to stay tonight and tomorrow but it won't come to that.' Joe promised, his pinky finger finding mine.


	54. Chapter 54 - Joe

**Chapter 53 – Joe**

'Don't push yourself, alright hun?'

I told Ella, holding her hand as she got out of her side of the car. My parents both worked in a medical office just outside of town for a private company and had asked to meet Ella in a small cafe they always went too on their lunch break just down the road. I had pulled up in the car park in between the medical office and Dee's cafe with over half an hour to go – enough time to coax Ella into the cafe without my parents to be peering out the window expectantly. Ella hadn't said too much since we got in the car to leave, but had her legs up to her chest, arms resting on the window as she looked out anxiously. I could tell she dreaded meeting my parents in the fear they would hate her and wouldn't want us to be together and then I'd have to choose either Ella or my parents.

But I also knew my parents had already welcomed her into the family and considered her as another daughter already and they just wanted to know her slightly better before we moved out in just over two days time.

'Okay,' Ella whispered, taking my hand before I locked the door. We had managed to find all the clothes from the mass wash my Mum had done over night for us – all the clothes from Cornwall, clean and ironed too – and found Ella's clothes. She was in a pair of skinny dark blue jeans, her black converse and a baggy shirt which hid the baby bump entirely.

'They'll love you, they already do.' I muttered to her, looking over her head and into the window of the medical office but there was no blinds moving suggesting they were looking out the window at us. How reliving.

'Mmm,' Was all she said as I pushed the door to Dee's cafe.

'Hey, Joe,' One of the owners kids, Delilah, said to me the second I stepped over the threshold. Delilah was about a year older than me and was working full time under her parent's leadership in the Cafe. I used to always come here with my parents if I had a day off and knew Delilah pretty well. I also knew she had a crush on me and not one that I could acutely return. She was alright (just) as a friend, but nothing more. I decided I liked her even less when she shot Ella a death look once seeing she was holding my hand. She gave Ella a once over, turning her nose up at her.

'Hey, Del, are my parent's here yet?' I asked, knowing it was about twenty minutes until they came bursting through the doors.

'Nope,' Delilah fake laughed, touching my chest as I rolled my eyes in annoyance. Ella didn't look like she cared too much as she continue to look at me smiling with a corner of her mouth. 'You and your sister having a family meal?' she asked, looking disdainfully at Ella.

'Er, no, she's my girlfriend. Ella, this is Delilah,' I willed Ella to throttle her.

'What a delight to meet you.' Ella said in a tone which she would normally use to talk about milk that's been left in the fridge for eighteen years.

'Yeah, you too. So, just another one of Joe's sluts?'

'Probably,' Ella retorted.

'Thought so,' Delilah bit back and just as I was about to interject standing up for Ella as she shouldn't be taking any of this crap, Ella bit back herself.

'Yeah, at least I actually got to that status compared to you. I'm the slut, you're a mere cockroach grovelling around.' Ella bit her lip and frowned, wondering where the hell the bitterness came from. I just wanted to applaud her. Putting my arm around her shoulders, I tugged her gently to one of the tables in the corner.

'I'll just wait for my parents,' I simply told Delilah as she stormed off behind the counter and out the back.

'Do you think I upset her? Oh my God – I am a terrible person,' Ella said, turning her back against the wall as she hunched over.

'Hell no, she deserved it. However I have no idea what she meant by one of my sluts. I've never had a slut. Ever. Honestly, I never really had a proper girlfriend.' I confessed up to her as I pulled Ella's legs over my lap, my hand running up and down her denim covered thigh.

'Really?'

'I wasn't really the dating type – found commitment hard. Couldn't even decide if I liked gel pens more, or ballpoints.'

'How good are you now with commitment?' Ella joked and I smiled at her.

'Weirdly enough. Well. Jake always said it wasn't really commitment that happened between him and Leannah and I said it was bullshit. He explained that it was more like looking after a piece of you that you were missing all of your life. One second, they're not there and the next, wala. "Commitment" was never really a thing to achieve or like a goal you both wanted but rather it happened immediately. It was like instant dedication. It was exactly like that with you, Ella, but it happened from the second I saw you. You went from being a girl of lies to the person I couldn't shift from my brain. I loved you from the second I saw you in that interview room.' I explained to her. 'Even along the way we had some bad times and some added bonuses, I still love you. I am committed to death with you.' I explained, gently touching the bump that had started to make an appearance.

'Aw,' Ella said, blushing. She went to say something but was caught immediately by the door opening and my parents coming in. She shied away again as I got up to hug my parents like I normally do. Ella got up, straightening her top self consciously as she hid behind me like a shadow. Remembering her anxiety and how bad she must be feeling internally, I reached behind me and hugged her to my side.

A few second later, Mum hugged Ella almost like she was a new leash of life. Ella hesitated slightly before hugging her back awkwardly.

'Ella, it's so nice to properly meet you. How are you doing, how are you feeling? Are you okay? How's the leg?' Mum asked her like a gun, never pausing to reload.

'Samara, calm down. Ella, how are you though. Sorry about Samara, she can be a bit overwhelming at first – I understand that.' Dad explained, shaking Ella's hand as she smiled back at him. I knew Dad would be the one that would be nice to Ella to contradict Mum's overwhelming intrusive questions. Dad's gift was he could view someone's mental landscape – like what I can do – but he can see all the things wrong. He could see people's status with mental health issues so I guess he gave Ella a quick check, just to make sure, and saw how anxious she was.

'Hey,' Ella whispered, clearing her throat slightly.

'You two sit back down again, we'll get some food and drink over – Pepsi, right, Ella?' Dad joked and she nodded her first genuine smile I've seen since we arrived.

 _Thursday morning, 7:49am._

I laid hugging Ella in our sleep again and had accepted it would probably be our sleeping norm . But the door opening again woke me up. Not that I had been heavily asleep, too excited that this day had finally came. We were finally moving in together. Okay, sure, the flat would only be for a few months but still. It would be our first place together. The keys would be handed over to us at ten this morning, and we could start moving in our stuff at eleven. The plan was to try and move everything and set everything up before tonight so we can stay in our own bed in our own flat.

Mum walked in again, placing a mug of coffee and Ella's hot chocolate on the cabinet next to the bed. That was all that remained now – just the bed and the cabinet and a change of clothes for Ella and I to wear today. Everything else had been skilfully packed down by us yesterday morning. Mum gestured to Ella and I shook my head. No, she was still asleep.

'I'm so sorry we couldn't get the day off work,' Mum whispered.

'It's fine – Jake and Quinn will be there and Ella's brothers will as well. You can still come over tonight if you want.'

'I think I might come over tomorrow, Joe, unless you need us there. You'll be shattered and wouldn't want us to intrude. I mean, when your father and I first got our place.. that night... well. Let's just say Carly would make an appearance nine months later.'

'Oh God, Mum, really don't need to know that.' I said as Ella started laughing. She rubbed her hand across her eyes, laughing gently.

'That was a weird way to wake up.' Ella laughed.

'Sorry, but if you did we'd support you.'

'Mum, stop.' I protested as Ella continued to laugh to herself, seeing how relative her words were.

'Fine, yes. But Joe, you don't let Ella do any of the heavy lifting today will you? She is not well enough to be lifting things.' Mum protested and I nodded. I didn't plan for her to do any of the lifting. Mum was right – the battery of tests had come back all clear and she was perfectly healthy apart from her legs. Xav had visited yesterday too and healed up her legs but my mother wasn't too happy, constantly questioning if it was safe from infections and Xav curiously replied in the mother-charming tone all Benedict's had managed to gain somehow. Zed then also visited and removed the slight Savant parasite that Ella had picked up. The wave of energy she felt was literally an implantation device that normally knocks people out but as Ella was such a strong Savant it never really stuck and just made her tired. With that safely removed, she seemed a lot more alert. Her brothers also met me and all gave me the brotherly talk whilst I protested I wouldn't dare touch Ella or hurt her in any way, shape or form but they seemed to be alright with me after.

'I won't.'

'Yeah, alright, that will totally happen.'

'No, you won't lift any heavy stuff.' I warned Ella after her sarcastic tone, touching her stomach under the blankets where Mum wouldn't see.

'Sure I won't.' Ella grinned up at her and I frowned.

'Ella, you won't lift any heavy things, leave it to Joseph.' Mum butted in.

'Why are you suddenly calling me Joseph?'

'I have to go now, I'll call you two when I can,' Mum replied, pausing to kiss us both on the cheek before heading out for work. Ella and I grinned at each other, too excited to go back to sleep.


	55. Chapter 55 - Ella

**Chapter 54 – Ella**

'Welcome home,' Joe said as I kicked the front door closed of our new flat. As I went to find the car parking place for the flat in the underground heated car park, he went upstairs to turn on the water and electricity or whatever manly stuff he wanted to do. It took me about five minutes to drive my way through the labyrinth that was the underground carpark and find the allocated spots for the two bedroom flat.

I had to admit the flat Maui had picked for Joe, and then added my name to the paperwork agreement, was absolutely amazing. It would be perfect. When you opened the door, there was a relatively long hallway, with hooks on one side. It then opened out to the right, with a bookcake. The bathroom was to the left, the two bedrooms to the right. If you kept following the hallway it led into an open plan lounge with the kitchen tucked into the left. It sat looking over a park, which had young children playing on the climbing frame and dog walkers.

Joe suddenly appeared in the hallway in front of me, grinning at me. I ran forwards and hugged him, Joe picking me up and spinning around as he buried his head into my shoulder, kissing my neck before he put me down.

'This is too surreal,' He whispered, looking around. 'Like this... this is all ours now.'

'That's kind of the thing about buying a flat,' I mumbled and he grinned down at me before kissing me softly.

'Come on, then, let's make this house a home.'

'Alright Mr. Homebase Advert Man.'

'Ella, can you please put something more on?' Xav practically begged of me.

'What's wrong with what I'm wearing?'

'You are literally in a pair of your boyfriends boxers and a baggy shirt – get changed.' Zed hissed at me and I put my hand of my hip, squinting at him. 'Nice Calvin Klein's though, mate,' He added as a side comment to Joe who just looked mildly confused.

'Er, they're mine.'

'They're men's.'

'Did... did you live with me for fifteen odd years or no? Do I care if they're men's or not?' I argued back as Joe continued to watch me.

'No, but it's weird now.'

'Why is it weird now?' I argued back with my younger brothers, plonking myself down on the settee that had just arrived and sinking into it almost immediately. Joe mumbled something about making a cuppa and I knew exactly why. He didn't trust himself not to mention the baby when I was literally in just a shirt and a pair of boxers. Near enough all the furniture had arrived – apart from the stuff that was due to come tomorrow afternoon after the ultrasound. I had got changed into my version of pyjamas – a pair of Joe's old boxers (not that I'd tell my brothers they were Joe's) – and a baggy old shirt. This was exactly what I would wear if I was at home in Colorado (apart from they'd be my boxers and not Joe's) but both of them were kicking off about it.

'We're back!' Crystal shouted as she came back through the door that was on the latch, and I could hear both them and Sky taking off their shoes, the paper bags from the drive through KFC crunching in their hand.

'We got lots of chicken – I am loving where Ella is going with this.' Sky walked through.

'Pyjamas already? It's only seven.' Crystal retorted, walking straight into the kitchen with the food, saying something to Joe and he just nodded. I frowned wondering why they were still having private words about me.

'It's always pyjamas.'

'Yeah, we can't argue with that logic after Cornwall.' Sky joked back, sitting down beside me. I grinned at her but immediately felt bad for hiding the baby around her.

Here's the truth; I really didn't have many friends when I was in high school. I mean, everyone there was nice to me and I had people to always hang around with and was invited to all the parties and everything but I didn't have any friends who really knew me. Everyone thought I was seventeen just turned eighteen an Yves' twin. I knew the lie was to protect me but I could never be me. I knew that I couldn't live these lies forever so the second high school was over for me, I would have to ditch so many people so I could be... well... me again. I was lucky in the fact Zed and I were always in the same year, and in some of the same classes so I could hide in the corner with him and get away with it. Other lessons, not so much. So I had to pretend I was too cool for the game but was more or less always intrigued by the subjects I was doing. Also, we managed to play on my depression and anxiety diagnosis so if I ever felt uncomfortable I could hide in the library, or in the corner of the Auditorium stage and self teach myself the syllabus – something I took advantage of. That was until Sky joined. I remember it clearly, the first lesson she had with me.

It was just after summer and we had to do a mind map of all the things we could remember from the summer work. I was in a group with Tina and Zoe. I got on well with them and they were lovely back and they were into the same arty things that I was but they still thought I was sixteen at the time, despite the fact I was nineteen. Thankfully, having chubby cheeks and an all too kiddish appearance played in the way of the lie. But Tina and Zoe didn't do the summer work and asked if I did. Of course I did. Self teaching myself psychology? Hello – totally up my ally. So I took the A3 sheet of paper, stuck my headphones in and started working on the mind map.

I was also a massive slut for stationary and had brought some new colouring pencils and writing pens and was now drawing my mind map listing off names and studies for each subsection. Institutional aggression; importation model states that you gain aggressive behaviour from outside world and take it into prison as appose to the deprivational model which assumed you gained your aggressive tendencies from deprivation from basic human rights including liberty, autonomy, goods and services and healthcare. That was Sykes proposal anyway. I was writing down all the evidence against and for each evidence – the gang members studies when I was kicked under the table. I finished the letter I was on, pulling out one of my headphones simultaneously telekinetically turning down the volume as I looked up and Sky had just appeared. I frowned at her, then looked at the clock behind where I was so busy writing for fifteen minutes I didn't even notice her arrival. I then frowned back as I introduced myself but busied myself writing after, too awkward to apologise for being rude.

I thought she'd be no one. Now look at her.

After Zed realised he was her Soulfinder, they grew together pretty fast. I never wanted to tell her about my past so I asked Zed too explain briefly, but not long after I was forced to tell her. She seemed okay, understanding the lie that was my life and stood by it. She even made twin jokes when she was around Yves and I, but when we were at home she was completely different and saw me as a kind of older sister to her. She was my only true friend in high school years.

'Joe, can I talk to you for a second?' I asked, nodding towards the sliding doors leading to the balcony. He frowned.

'What's up? You want the door open?' He asked confused as I rolled my eyes at him, giving him the sideways look. 'Oh, that makes sense now.' He said grabbing the key for the balcony. We were fully aware that everyone was watching us as he unlocked the balcony door, opening it so we could shimmy on out before closing the door on us.

'Face out so they can't lip read.' I simply said, leaning on the balcony railing and looking across the park which now had long shadows casted by the dying sun.

'What's up? Are you okay?' He asked, leaning next to me so our sides were touching.

'Can I tell Sky? About the baby?'

'You know you're not meant to tell anyone before your first scan, Ella.' He said back, looking at me sideways.

'I know I'm not meant to but this is huge, Joe. Like... huge. I keep watching my words to make sure I don't say anything – I nearly spilled it in front of Michael yesterday when you were there and we know how disasterous that could have been. Look, it's only Sky. I'll make sure she won't tell anyone. Please, Joe, I just want to know if my family will be okay with it because I really am unsure.'

Joe looked over at me, hugging me to his side.

'You really are scared aren't you?'

'Terrified, Joe. I don't want my brothers to hate you and my parents as well and I don't want everyone to hate the baby and I know it's irrational but you don't know the amount of times Mum has talked down about people having kids before they're twenty five as it ruins their life and they don't have any freedom any more, even though she had Trace when she was nineteen but it's different. You don't know what my Mum thinks of people who don't really have a career and have kids –' I rambled on, getting so worked up Joe literally had to grab my arms to hug me.

'Jeez, Ella, it's alright calm down. I know your parents will be fine with the baby when they find out. They'll be slightly confused and want to know when, just like we were, but they will love and support you like they do now and they will cherish the baby to pieces.' Joe said with a level of security that acted as a back up net. I could only guess he had seen the future and knew it would all work out alright. 'Okay, you can tell Sky if it makes you comfortable.'

'Thanks,' I muttered leaning into him. I steeled myself realising my hands were shaking.

'Do you want me to stay?'

'Yeah, you're the Dad you're staying right here.' I breathed slowly, before turning around and opening the door.

'Sky? When is the new graduation date? I know it was meant to be in like two weeks but they moved it because of the fire?' The school auditorium had caught on fire, so they did a tiny graduation ceremony but decided to make a big fuss out of getting us all graduated properly when the new auditorium - and musical performance block – was built.

'Why don't you ask me?' Zed protested.

'Like you know,' I argued back, grinning.

'Er... February I think?' Sky said.

'I literally can't hear you, come out here.' I said, turning my back again. I sighed closing my eyes. Oh God.

'I think it's February 18th, I think.'

'Oh, okay. That's not why I wanted you out here, though. I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to keep a secret just for a few weeks if that.' I said and she frowned at me.

'Are you okay? You are terrified.' She whispered.

'Turn around and face the park so they can't lip read,' I said and she followed me instructions. Joe put his arm around my waist, sturding my shaking body. Just come out and say it. But I couldn't. It was like a fake lie, a secretive lie that I made and was just between Joe and I but now we had to tell people my brain couldn't allow me. I started crying. Joe hugged me even closer, kissing my head as Sky looked over and hugged me too.

'What's wrong, Ella?' Sky asked, 'Why are you so scared.'

'I'm pregnant, Sky,' I whispered and she frowned. 'I'm pregnant.' I said a tiny bit louder and she took a step back. I knew she'd hate me. I turned around into Joe's chest and started crying, thankful someone in our flat had the brilliant idea to close the blinds. Genius. They couldn't see me having a breakdown.

'Ella?' Sky whispered as I carried on crying, Joe rubbing his hands up and down my spine trying to calm me down. 'Why is she crying?'

'She's scared you'll hate her,' Joe simply said, as I forced my tears to stop. 'Everything is a bit too much for her at the moment,'

'She's not lying?'

'You can tell when she's lying, right?' Joe said over the top of my head.

'Yes,'

'Ella is pregnant. We don't know how far along but we're guessing about twelve weeks. We think it happened at the party, which is why it's about three and a half months along, but if it didn't and happened later it would only be a few weeks, since we got down to the safe house. She's getting the scan done tomorrow to see if everything is okay which i'm sure it will be. She's not lying.' Joe explained as I calmed myself down.

'You're both not lying, you're actually pregnant.' Sky said, addressing the last bit to me as I wiped away another tear nodding. She then launched herself at me, hugging me tightly.

'Congratulations. I really don't know what to say. I have no idea. I really didn't have an idea. But I'm so happy for you, Ella. And you too, Joe,' Sky added. 'Where are you two going to live now?'

'We don't know yet –we haven't discussed plans that far ahead.' Joe explained. 'Honestly, we haven't done any planning at all. Ella's refusing to plan anything until we get the all clear tomorrow.'

'Ella can also hear you,' I mumbled as Sky let go of me.

'Does anyone else know?'

'No, just us two and you. And Jason.' I muttered.

'No pressure to keep it a secret – you're going to tell everyone tomorrow, though?' Sky questioned as we saw the blinds twitch slightly where someone moved them. Probably to check we were still okay and hadn't all made a sudden run for it.

'Er, you might have to keep it a secret for a bit longer than a few hours.' I said to her and even Joe gave me a sideways look. 'I was hoping to tell everyone when we go to Colorado, all in one hit.'

'Ella, you can't fly for another two weeks hun,' Joe whispered to me, rubbing my waist. 'Can you hold the secret for that long? Isn't it better to just tell people,' He mumbled, and I shrugged.

'I don't exactly want to tell everyone over the phone, and you all go back tomorrow morning don't you? You couldn't stay over for too long, you all have other commitments.' I said looking up at Joe who just looked down.

'You do whatever you feel comfortable with,' Joe simply said.

'So I can't tell anyone for two weeks until you're over,'

'Sorry.'

'It's fine... i'lll work something out to keep me shut up. But seriously you two, congratulations. You are so cute together!' Sky squealed as I looked up at Joe, grinning as he kissed me.

The rest of the night went pretty fast, with us six eating our KFC, watching games and just having a good conversation and catch up. I was so relieved when Zed and Xav took me outside for a second (even though I panicked they knew about the baby but thankfully, neither of them were any wiser) and told me they actually really liked Joe and didn't mind me and him being together, but they were going to continue to pretend they were uneasy with him so he doesn't take advantage. I frowned at them when they said he could take advantage. Like Joe would do such a thing, but I let them get away with it to make them more comfortable about everything. Everyone left at around half ten saying they had a stupidly early flight and needed to pack before going to bed and I told them when the flights were booked for us to go over there. We all hugged and everything like we normally did and we were left alone in our flat for the first time for our first night alone.

'I think your brothers hate me.' Joe simply mumbled.

'Nah, they're fine with you don't worry.' I said walking back over to him, wrapping my arms around his neck.

'You sure?'

'Of course. Just give them all time – they're stupidly over protective.'

'But you literally said they're the ones that would be quickest to like me! I have no hope when it comes to Vick do I?' Joe protested, tickling my waist.

'Honestly, no but if he starts to be a dick I can argue with him and get away with it. And if he dares to be a dick to you I will slap him.'

'Someone's over protective,' Joe whispered, kissing the top of my nose.

'Yeah, well.' I said back and she shook his head at me.

'Come on, we have an early start tomorrow for your scan,'

'I'm so scared.'

'Everything will be fine, Ella, don't worry.' Joe said, picking me up bridal style as I laughed to carry me into the bedroom as I showed no signs of shifting at all.


	56. Chapter 56 - Ella

**Chapter 55 – Ella**

 _The next morning_

I sat anxiously at the edge of the sofa, curled up slightly and shaking in fear. I don't know why I was shaking, but I couldn't stop shaking no matter how long I tried to still my hand. I'll be honest, I could guess why I was shaking, and it was to do with the hospital appointment I had in ninety two minutes (I wasn't counting down). You would have thought the sheer amount of time I was in and out of hospitals for the last few weeks I would be immune, if you will, to hospitals. But hell no, the fear still stayed and was even intensified this time around because the tests I was due to undertake wouldn't just affect my life.

I pulled my shirt down over my stomach a bit more, half self conscious but also fed up on how it kept riding up when I kept shaking. I didn't go for fashion today – or ever, really – but went for comfort instead. This morning, a lot of time had gone into my look simply to take my mind of the daunting task that lied ahead of me today. I had gone for a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a black marl baggy shirt and my usual baggy hoody that is actually Joe's. But the hoody that I always found comfort in did next to nothing at this precise second. I hunched over even further, curling up into myself with my legs against my chest and my head on my knees. Normal people are excited for days like this, but not me. I was a quivering wreck.

As I thought the last thought, I could hear Joe who had just come out of the bathroom from his shower. I could call him, I thought. He probably would be able to calm me down but I didn't want to be a burden – for he was more excited about this than I was at the moment. I couldn't put a downer on his day because I was anxious. I'm not that mean. Instead, I just curled up even smaller, pushing my head on my legs so hard hoping that my brain what shut up with its intensive and obsessive bullshit.

'How formal are we going, hun? Like jeans or – what's wrong?' Joe said, walking around the corner of our flat to see me curled into a ball on the side of the sofa. He quickly sat down beside me, putting his arm immediately around my back and pulling me in and I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. Embarrassingly, I started to cry still shaking. 'Hun, what's up?' Joe asked.

'I'm scared,' is all I could whisper, crying as he gently pulled me onto his lap, one hand around my waist pulling me in for a hug and rubbing my arm attempting to calm me down, the other in my hair. He gently tried to shush me in a compassionate way and even though it had no immediate effect, I felt a lot calmer knowing that he was there for me. I rested my head against his completely exposed shoulder as he played with my hair. We sat there for another ten or so minutes, until I had completely stopped crying. 'Why you scared?' He asked simply, grabbing the blanket/throw off the back of the settee and wrapping it around us both.

'About today.' I simply said, and Joe smiled down at me sadly. He gently leaned forward and kissed me softly.

'There's nothing to be scared about. You know what will happen, don't you?' He asked me softly, and I nodded. These tests are known to be in films and every TV show. I knew the procedure – it was the result I was scared about.

'What if something isn't right? What if –' I said, looking up at Joe. I never realised how quickly you could fall in love with your Soulfinder, but we've only known each other properly for a month, and it's been just over three and a half months since we first met. My brothers who have been fortunate to find their Soulfinder's all told of how quickly they fell in love and how much it shocked them, but I thought they were over exaggerating. But now I knew they meant every word they said. I couldn't imagine spending another day without Joe.

'Stop with the what if's, El, I highly doubt there will be something wrong.'

'Promise?' I muttered, and Joe gave me the slight look he always gives me when in a good way he feels sorry for me. Not a good way, but he understands that I can't help the way I feel sometimes, and rather than telling me harshly to get over it there must be short cuts around it to help me feel less anxious. Honestly, when people always spoke about their Soulfinder, such as family and so on, they always said how happy they would be together. But it just left me stumped. I thought I would be unlovable – with the anxious and depressed part of me. Hardly anyone knows how to deal with that side of me, so I keep it hidden. Which works within short time periods. However, when I told Joe when night, I was scared he was just going to leave me. Instead, he just told me it doesn't change anything about me. That night, we discussed the ways I get around it and ever since then he's known exactly what to do when I get myself in such an anxious state that I can't stop shaking such as now.

'Of course, I doubt anything will be wrong cupcake, I promise you that. And if something is wrong, we'll work around it and discuss it through, but that's worst case scenario. Nothing bad will happen,' He mumbled, as I slid off his lap and sat next to him, completely curled up into his frame. Joe knows I prefer having the "worst case scenario" approach rather than reassurance nothing can go wrong approach. He curled up slightly up to me, pushing his wet hair out of his face and I realised he didn't even get changed and was still in just his towel. 'Nothing will go wrong, hun.' He said in a low tone, putting his free hand around my waist to hold my back.

The results of today's test will literally change our lives forever, and whilst I was a quivering wreck with nerves Joe remained calm as anything. He seemed almost excited, but hid it to make me feel better.

'I love you,' I mumbled, curling up into him even further. I was literally like a cat.

'I love you, too. Come on, let's go get me changed.' He said, getting up and pulling me up as he did, and I smiled slightly thankful he didn't just leave me in Cornwall when he had the chance. Because if he did, then what would I do when I found myself in this scenario?

I sat in the passenger seat of the blue Focus that Joe drove up from Cornwall as it was technically insured under both of us. Legs up to my chest, head flopped against the window I watched as residential street after residential street flew past the window as we drove closer and closer to the Royal Berkshire Hospital. I knew this part of town very well, having grown up near Reading before the crash, and having Michael live around here when we were both teens also helped to aid my memory. If I was correct, we could be coming up and around the ward we needed to go to in less than three minutes. I tried to breathe a bit slower to calm my beating heart but to little avail. Normally, I hate people driving for me but I knew Joe would drive safely and there was no way I could drive safely when in this state. He gently put his hand on my knee as we waited at a traffic light. I could feel every second dragging. Is it normal to fear an ultrasound this much? Because I did.

'How are you feeling?' Joe said, looking over at me with his bright green eyes shining. Whilst his hair was still damp and dark brown from his shower, it was also kind of poofy at the same time, giving him a young kid effect.

'Eh,' I simply said. 'Can we go Nando's after this?' I asked, and he laughed.

'Yeah, why not. The Oracle one?' He simply asked, changing the gear of the car as the light turned from orange to green and the traffic started flowing again. He pulled up the car into the closest lane to the massive hospital, indicating into the car park for the maternity ward and I started to shake again. What if this all went tits up? Joe seemed so excited when he found out I was pregnant and so was I but I was still terrified. I could only blame myself if this went all wrong because I was to ignorant to notice what my body was trying to tell me. I mean, I realise when laying awake last night that I could have been classed to have morning sickness with the amount of times I threw up before we were sent down to Cornwall and how I constantly felt sick. I thought I just really fancies some foods but it could have been cravings and I was a lot more emotional and snappy. That's pretty weird. However, there was still little to no bump. I was literally flat. There was nothing there. Not even kidding, nothing. A pancake would have more bumps than I do at this time. And not only that, everything that happened in Cornwall happened whilst I was pregnant. I'm not overly medical, but I can guarantee that being bombed and burning your legs and knocking yourself out for nearly three days wouldn't be good for the baby. And I think that was why I was an anxious mess, because I probably fucked it up for the baby before I even knew. I watched as Joe parked, my fears intensifying and looked at the clock realising we were half an hour early for the appointment.

'Are we early so you can force me into the building when I decide I don't want to go?' I asked, and Joe laughed.

'I wouldn't say forced, let's say coax you into the building.' He joked. 'How are you feeling, though?'

'Scared. Nervous.'

'Why?'

'I'm scared I messed it up for our kid before I even realised I was pregnant.' I owned up to him, and he pulled a face.

'You haven't messed it up, hun, why do you say that?'

'I didn't know for God knows how long. It's been what, fifteen weeks since the party. God knows what I've done since then. I've been flying since then – that probably isn't good. I don't think I've drunk, but if I have I'm a terrible human. I was wreckless in Cornwall and I'm not going to make the best of impressions to your family, am I? You can be all like "hey, this is my Soulfinder she's also pregnant" and then it'll make me look like a slut -' I started ranting, but was cut off by Joe kissing me softly. He pulled away a few seconds later; hand gently on my waist, his eyes brimming with concern.

'Ella, you have been over thinking for a long time, haven't you?' He simply asked, and I looked at the car floor embarrassed. 'People always fly when they're pregnant, and you can fly up to 36 weeks because it's fine. And I don't think you've had any alcohol since the party simply because of how drunk we got. It was horrendous. I was hung over for four days and that's definitely put me off. Also, I don't think you're much of a drinker hun; you didn't drink anything in Cornwall and probably when you were at Michael's because he doesn't drink either so it was just when you were back in Colorado and I doubt you did drink then, so don't worry about that. And yeah, okay, we were reckless in Cornwall but we found out after when you were in hospital, after everything happened remember? They said then the baby was fine. Also, my family won't think you're a slut. You know most of my family and you're closer to half of them than I am. You've met most of them, they all love you. They'll be supportive if we have this baby. If not, fuck them. It can just be me, you, and the baby if you want. It's all up to you, but I'll be with you every step of the way.' Joe explained, drawing little patterns on my knee but never once breaking eye contact. He wasn't lying. He believed every word he said, and I just slowly nodded. What he said did seem to be very truthful.

'Sorry,' I said, wiping away a tear as he got out the car. I had no idea where he was going, until my door opened beside me and he crouched down and gently touched my stomach.

'Why are you apologising. You can't help the way you feel, so don't apologise for it. I don't see you apologising for having blonde hair or no boobs or the most beautiful eyes – things that you can't help, so don't apologise for the way you feel.' Joe said sweetly, as he wiped away a tear. I leant forward and gently kissed him, thankful for everything he's done. In Cornwall, he made sure I didn't lose my mind and made sure I took care of myself, something I would not have done if he didn't keep pestering me to do.

I have a weird habit of never eating until people near enough force me to eat, or push me to do social tasks. When we were told we were going to have to spend a month in a safe base with each other I honestly assumed it would just be a month for me to sit in my room and go on Tumblr, occasionally surfacing to go down to the beach or to the shops. I never thought it would lead to us discovering we were Soulfinder's and then have the best 18 days that either of us have ever had. I didn't tell Joe at the time how much I appreciate him cooking for me, taking me out, running baths and everything in fear he would realise how pathetic I was, but when we went on the run from hotel to hotel, I told him. Ever since then, he's been doing it subtly until I was okay enough to do simple things by myself. He's become my guardian angel even when he didn't notice it. He saved me out the grey existence of lacking a Soulfinder, but also out of depression again and I could never repay him.

'Come on then, let's get you out of his car.' He said, leaning over to undo the belt and pulling me out of the car, holding me with one arm around my shoulders, he quickly slammed the door and locked it before walking me to the building.

'Can you do all the talking?' I mumbled, embarrassed.

'Of course,' He mumbled back, looking around. It's been a while since we left Cornwall, but we still had our paranoid tendencies.

'Thanks.' I rested my head against his chest for a second, and felt him kiss my head.

Fifteen minutes, we were sitting in the waiting room as Joe filled in the paperwork for me, my hand shaking too much for me to write in block capitals. I watched him fill in row after row, amazed how much he's remembered. I laughed as it came to the "full name" category, and watched him deliberate over writing "Ella" or "Eleanor".

 _It's still Eleanor._ I told him, laughing as he pulled a face at me as he wrote it down.

 _I thought you'd kill me if I wrote Eleanor. That is what you said._ He joked.

 _I will, this one time I'll let you off._ He smiled, as he continued the form flawlessly. I scanned all the woman in this room, noticing all of them had some form of baby bump compared to pancake me. _Joe, have you noticed I am the smallest in the room?_

 _Bump wise, or height? Because I noticed both._ I elbowed him in the ribs as he laughed, but put his arm around my shoulders again, the weight becoming familiar where he's done it so many times.

 _Is that normal, though?_

 _Leannah wasn't very big at all until the end and she had twins. Don't worry about it._ Joe said, handing the clipboard to the nurse who approached him, smiling and replying to the questions she asked. I heard her say something about how the midwife was ready for us and started panicking again, but Joe took my hand and gently walked me into the small room.

The room wasn't too small, so I was lying a bit. It was big enough to fit one of those lying down bed things, the machine, three chairs to one side and the other one that had some more machines as well as the screen. This was literally the set up in every film.

'Hello, Ella, Joe, I'm Dr. Karanine, your midwife for the next few months. How are you feeling, Ella?' She asked, shaking my hand. The midwife was in late twenties, I would say, with a smooth sleek of brown hair down to her shoulders and soft brown eyes and I knew she was genuine and passionate about her job. I could also trust her entirely. I frowned at her, though, turning my head wondering how I recognised her name. I looked down at her name badge to see her first name was Monica. Monica Karanine – she's a Savant. Most definitely a Savant. I remember seeing her name in the database.

'Okay,' I mumbled, stepping backwards until Joe was behind me. He was like my human shield. 'You're a Savant, aren't you?' I asked her, and my boyfriend poked me in my side.

'Ella, behave. Sorry about that.' Joe said politely, almost to balance out the shock of my question on her.

'It's fine, but yeah I am. How do you know that?' Dr Karanine didn't seem too bothered but was more shocked that we knew. 'Wait, I thought I recognised your name. You're not part of the Benedict's family as in the ones in Colorado, are you? And the Matthew's family?' She asked me and then Joe, and we both just nodded. 'And you two are...' He mumbled, and we nodded again.

'Wow, talk about a power couple. That's so cute, though, congratulations. But we're here for a scan, correct?' Dr Karanine asked, sitting back down in the chair by the screen.

'Yeah,' Joe said, gently pushing me to sit on the weird bed thingy. Clearly he had more of an idea what to do in this situation than I did. Following his lead, I jumped up onto the bed onto the weird scratchy blue paper they always put across these beds.

'And do you have any idea how far along you are, Ella?' She asked me, but I looked straight over to Joe to answer for me, my mind not forming the coherent words. Joe looked at me for half a second, picking up on my thoughts and answered for me.

'Honestly, we had no idea she was pregnant until a few weeks ago after the Cornwall thing which I'm sure you've heard about if you were a Savant, but we're guessing about fifteen weeks,' Joe explained for me as I smiled at him. How did I deal with everything before I met him? Oh right, I probably didn't deal with it too well. Sounds about right.

'That's cool, okay Ella can you just lift your shirt slightly for me.' I did as she said, as she pulled out a bottle of that weird jelly shit. 'This will be cold, okay?' She said, and I nodded again as she poured a tiny bit of the jelly on my flat stomach (still no bump – something has got to be wrong, right?) as Joe came over, holding my hand slightly as he sensed my panic again.

'Okay, and let's find your baby. Now where is baby hiding? Wait, there we go,' She said, pulling up an image on the screen, and I could only just about see the outline of our kid and I smiled. Joe tightened his grip on my hand. 'Well, you are about fifteen weeks, but there is nothing wrong I can see with your child, baby is perfectly healthy and there is nothing wrong with your kid. So, you're going to need to call up in the like two weeks to book an appointment for five weeks time from now, and I'm just going to print off a few copies of your scan, just give me a second.' And she left the room as both Joe and I stared mesmerised at the screen, at our baby.

'Holy shit,' I mumbled under my breath, shocked that one drunken night could lead to all of this.

'I told you there was nothing wrong,' Joe said, and I looked over at him smiling. Honestly, with all the things we've been through together in the last few months, most of which a normal couple would never go through in their lifetime, this was one of the best and most spectacular things that could have happened to either of us. Joe's face was completely lit up, and he was smiling a goofy smile.

'What do we do now, then?' I sat up, grabbing a tissue from the side to wipe of their freezing jelly and put my shirt back down, before jumping off the bed. Joe came up to me, wrapping his arms around my waist looking down at me the whole time. He could not stop smiling.

'I did say we can get a Nando's.' He joked, leaning down to kiss me.

We sat down at our tables in the Riverside Nando's in the Oracle shopping centre in the middle of Reading. The Nando's was fairly busy and we had to wait ten minutes to be seated, and the wait for food was about half an hour as well but we didn't mind – we had enough to talk about. We were placed to seat in the basement of the place which had been converted to what looked like a similar style to a four star restaraunt, real flowers in glass vases with Crystal beads stay next to the peri peri salt shakers, with the table number "55" in the middle. Joe and I had sat on opposite sides of the table, the ultrasound of the baby resting in the middle of the table too as both of us looked at it mesmerised. I was so relieved that the baby was completely fine. No signs of any deformities or illnesses from my lack of knowledge and lack of prenatal care either. Dr. Karanine came back in and said the scan looked more like sixteen weeks but it was a small baby to start with which wouldn't be a shock because of how small I was. She said in comparison it would be like a goat giving birth to a cow; anatomically it wouldn't work. Small people, small babies. So about sixteen weeks pregnant – which lined up absolutely perfectly with the party. I suppose it answered the question of did we sleep with each other, then.

'Are you finding this hard to believe – like that's our baby?' Joe whispered, his legs knocking against mine. 'That's our kid. We made that.'

'I'm glad you can do biology, Joe. We did make that.' I laughed and he rolled his eyes when smiling. 'Do you still think it's a girl – I won't be pissed, just tell me.'

'Yeah, I keep seeing you with a baby girl in like the a few months time – it's hard to tell when but there is snow so I guess it's in winter which lines up with the due date.'

18th January.

'So we're having a girl?'

'Don't place any money on it, but I'm fairly confidence we are.' Joe whispered holding my hand. 'I love you, Ella, so much.'

'I love you too,' I whispered back choking up. 'Can I blame me crying on hormones?' I laughed, wiping away a tear.

'I'll allow that.' He laughed back, leaning across the table to wipe away another tear. 'Guess we have to start planning everything, then?'

'Yeah – can we do that at home and not in the middle of Nando's?'

'Good idea,' Joe joke as the waitress brought over our food. Joe quickly slid the ultrasound back into it's paper wallet and put it in my backpack which he refused to let me carry because of the weight of it but I noticed he hadn't stopped smiling since the scan was done.


	57. Chapter 57 - Joe

**Chapter 56 – Joe**

'There's your Pepsi,' I whispered, putting down the glass with a straw on the table next to the settee where Ella sat, legs drawn out to the side as she frowned at the TV. 'What exactly are you watching?' I asked, flicking her legs so I could sit down beside her.

'EastEnders – everyone should be in a psychiatric hospital by now.' She simply said, switching the channel to the news. Ella only ever watched the news to see if there was any interesting news reports that would file threw but currently nothing. The time of day meant it was the business section of the news report and we were just watching some shiny faced man reading out the stock reports and what companies made a profit and which ones didn't. 'We mentioned about discussing everything through now?'

'Yeah,' I said, 'I think the main question is where we are going to live. Here or in Colorado?'

'Who said we are even going to live together,' Ella grinned at me avoiding the question.

'If we're not living together, I am very confused about the current living arrangements. And what happened last night, too.' I joked and she rolled her eyes at me.

'I'm not too sure, Joe. I don't want to leave all my family in Colorado. Apart from you and Michael, they're all I have. But I don't want to leave here either and make you leave your family either and we've already settled down here. We'd have to move again, sure, but this is already our home.' She simply explained, her hand running up around down my knee.

'Well, what would be the pro's about staying in Wrickenridge or whatever the hell it was you grew up. In the middle of nowhere. What's the pro's of living in a mountain?' I said and she laughed.

'Jeez, say that when we go there in two weeks and you'd get murdered. Well, it's where I grew up and it's a lovely place, and it's quite small and deserted and my family are there.' Ella explained.

'And what would be the pro's of staying here.'

'Well we could keep our jobs at Maui and we'd be with your family, we wouldn't get snowed in every winter for like 19 weeks and it's better schooling over here and our baby won't grow up calling me Mom which I'd hate entirely and Michael would be here as well. Also if we stay here we'd get free flights to Colorado to visit a lot more than we would vice versa and I think I do want to stay over here... I just don't want to break everyone's hearts family wise by saying I'm flying the nest and then flying the pond and they would hardly ever see their niece or granddaughter.' She explained and I noticed she was tearing up.

'What do you mean they'd hardly ever see their niece slash granddaughter? We'd go over there every few months to visit, and when we get sent out there to work with the FBI we'd of course take the baby with us and you already said everyone comes over to England to visit and work with Maui when they need too. They'd see the baby – and you too - a lot more than you think they would.' I explained to her, my hand playing with her hair.

'Yeah, I guess,' She mumbled. 'I just don't want to upset anyone.'

'You won't upset anyone, hun.' I said to her, putting my arm around her as she leaned into me. 'So you want to stay over here – in England?'

'Yeah, I've always wanted to move back here but I've never knew how to go about it. Maui already wants to take me on full time which we could probably use as well, and now I have the perfect excuse to stay. You,' She whispered and I kissed her gently. 'Still can't get over the ultrasound, though.'

'It's unreal like... that's our kid.' She developed further as I continued to look at her in slight amazement.

'Yeah, it's our baby.' I repeated gently, hugging her tightly as the buzzer rang to our flat. I frowned at her. We weren't expecting anyone but had yet to get changed into night time clothes and were still in jeans and thin shirts as the temperature had increased during the day. I got up and picked up the telecom to the outside panel where someone was ringing the buzzer.

'Hello?'

'I have just rung the buzzer for your next door neighbour seven times and when they picked up I called them a dickhead thinking it was you. I would like to request to come in and hide for several hours from your neighbour,' Jake said quickly and I rolled my eyes.

'Fine – only for a few hours.' I replied back, pushing the button to let him in. 'Third floor to the right.' I quickly added before hanging up.

'Who's that?' Ella asked.

'Jake,'

'Oh, right.' She simply said continuing to look at the T.V. 'We've established we're keeping the baby, right?'

'That's what you said at Royal Berks, and then in Nando's.'

'Good,'

'Still want to keep her?'

'Of course I want to keep her!' She simply said and I grinned at her, excited but terrified about the fact I'd be becoming a parent in about five months. Five months and we wouldn't be in this flat anymore but rather in one of the houses Maui were hunting out for us and paying it off, and five months time that house would be scattered with baby toys and bottles and God knows what else, and our daughter would be there too. Our little surprise baby. I would never call her a mistake, because whilst she would be classed as mistake she would never be a mistake to keep. Surprise, yes, not a mistake. I had noticed too that Ella was referring to the baby as a girl now despite being too young to actually get an ultrasound to tell the gender. I had recently seen using my gift Ella and our daughter in hospital when we were discussing names. Outside, the floor was covered in snow and our daughter was in pink blankets. The nurse had just left the room saying that "She's such a beauty – that one!" so I kind of worked out that the child Ella was pregnant with now was a girl and even though she got annoyed slightly that it slipped out, she had started referring to the baby as she.

'Bro, open the door! Your neighbour will actually kill me!' Jake shouted, knocking on the door. I quickly got up again and jumped to the door.

'Are we telling?' I mouthed and Ella shook her head.

'Not yet, if that's alright?' and I nodded. I had to give Ella time – it was her body that would be going through all the changes and I had to give her time to grasp the concepts of it. I just had to be patient even though I was dying to tell everyone and brag about the ultrasound where you could see our daughter resting. Turned out there was an actual medical reason why Ella had no bump. Because she was quite small and petite anyway but had wide hips. The baby, and the way she was conceived, she was pushed up against Ella's spine which would be by she had bad backaches but the baby would drop within her own time and baby had which would be evident in the baby bump that had started to appear (even though it was tiny). The reason for the incredibly bad bleed Ella had was stress related haemorrhoids caused by something that was too scientific for my tiny brain.

'Bro, where's Ella.' Jake said as I opened the door, walking in and kicking off his shoes.

'Er, hi I'm fine. Yeah, it's been a while since we've seen each other. Oh, Ella? Yeah she's good too. Thanks for asking about us both.' I said to the open door as he continued to smile.

'Fine – hello to you to you whiny idiot.' Jake came over and hugged me.

'Ella?' He then called out.

'Yeah?' Ella called back.

'I was clearing your paperwork and saw you had an unlisted hospital appointment earlier, are you okay?' Jake asked as I trailed him into the lounge. I widened my eyes at Ella.

'I'm fine; it was just a check up. Why was it unlisted?' Ella fluently lied.

'One of you said it was filed as irrelevant to the attack.'

'Fuck sake, Joe, you had one job filling out paperwork.' She joked and I grinned at her.

'Jeez, I did panic though thinking you were up to something naughty and secretive.' Jake laughed, going into the kitchen. Ella opened her eyes a bit wider at me, and I sighed rolling my eyes. I headed over to her side, bending down to pick up her blanket she kicked on the floor.

'Er,' He said and I rolled my eyes.

'Glasses are in the cupboard opposite the sink,'

'What's this?'

Both Ella and I looked over to him where I knelt down on the floor in front of her, my hands on her knee as Jake held up a small rectangle of paper. I frowned at it and realised it was the ultrasound he was holding up as he continued to scan the picture in utter confusion. He turned it around, to see the due date the nurse had wrote on the back, before looking at the scan again and at the name. Something dawned on his face and he looked at us. Ella looked at me for a second, her eyes widening in surprise at me.

'It's just a prank – caught you. You should have see the look on your face,' I bullshitted weakly and Ella gave me a disappointed look.

'Ella, what is this? Are you –'

'Do you want to tell him?' I whispered and she rolled her eyes.

'I think he can hear you, hun.' She joked and I leaned forward and kissed her as Jake cleared his throat, evidently watching us. 'You may as well tell him,'

'Are you pregnant, Ella? Joe?'

'Well, he's not pregnant. The same can't be said for me,' Ella mumbled, smiling slightly. Jake looked completely shocked between us two, but then grinned.

'Really?'

'Yeah,'

'You two!' Jake came over and hugged us both, lifting Ella so she would stand up. She laughed slightly, fining my hand to hold. I gently rubbed my finger over her hand, calming her down. 'Is that why the appointment was unlisted?'

'Yeah, we were going to keep it a secret for a few more weeks – until we get used to the idea. We only found out a few days from when we left and went down to Cornwall. Even then we said we weren't going to make a decision until we got out. We've only had a week to mill over the news,' I explained as Jake broke the hug to walk back to the ultrasound before picking it up.

'How far along are you?'

'About sixteen weeks,'

Jake's jaw dropped as he turned around and stared at Ella's stomach. He then got out his phone and opened an app, scrolling up on what I could guess was his calendar.

'What was sixteen weeks ago... the engagement party – you two...' Jake started to laugh. 'Your baby is tiny as well. Bless you two, though. You'll be such good parents – congratulations!' Jake hugged Ella again, spinning her around as she laughed. He mumbled something to Ella and she nodded and smiled.

'I bloody hope so,' he joked.

'Hmm?!' I asked, and both of them just grinned at me.

'Nothing,' Jake said, laughing.

'Seriously, congrats bro. Do Mum and Dad know?'

'No,'

'I recommend when you tell them – phone them up.' Jake explained, walking back over to hug Ella again as she laughed. He picked her up slightly as she laughed a bit louder. He whispered something to her and she nodded, muttering something back. I then heard him mutter "promise?" and Ella nodding, taking his pinky he offered her.

'Why?'

'They will completely loose it. I went over there earlier to pick up your last bits and bobs and they were so in love with Ella. They would not stop talking about her, and you two, and then more her.'

'I told you they love you,' I said, touching Ella's waist as she just smiled slightly.

'Really?'

'Would I lie to you? Honestly, they love you. I was tempted to throw in my towel as their son – clearly you going to a cafe with them was worth more than however long I've been alive,' Jake laughed. 'They were even on about you having kids and getting married,'

Ella and I looked at each other. I knew she doubted if my parents would like her, let alone if they'd like her when we announce our daughter was a thing. Jake frowned when he saw our weird reaction.

'What did that say?' Ella said.

'Er, you okay there, you two?' Jake asked as Ella walked over to me and into my arms. I hugged her gently, rubbing her arm repeatedly to calm her down. 'They just said that you two were perfectly suited and calmed each other down and they couldn't wait for you two to get married and then have a kid. You just did it the other way around,'

'Well,' I said and Ella laughed to herself.

But she didn't know my plan to propose to her.


	58. Chapter 58 - Joe

_**Chapter 58 – Joe**_

I indicated onto the fast lane on the M5 – the motorway heading down into Devon and Cornwall respectively as I checked my blind spot and pulled into the lane, putting my foot down on the accelerator reach the National Speed limit within the English motorway. I adjusted the way I sat in the driver's seat quickly looking over at Ella, who was still curled up within the passenger's seat fast asleep. I grinned at her before focusing back on the road, triple checking the road signs to make sure we were heading down towards Cornwall.

I caved in – I told Ella we were going down to Cornwall again. She practically begged me to tell her where we were going, saying she doesn't know what to pack. I couldn't say no to her after everything that happened.

'Please, Joe.' She said for what felt the thousandth time. I smiled at her. She was sitting on the sofa in our flat, legs curled up to her chest in just a sports bra and a pair of short. We didn't have any form of air conditioning and the keys for the windows didn't work, so we were making do wearing next to no clothes when we can. I smiled at Ella. Within the week since she had the ultrasound the bump had grown a bit more and I could actually start to say it was a bump but it was only visible if she had no shirt on and was sitting down and you knew.

'I'm not going to tell you,' I said and she pretended to sulk, lying down on the sofa as I sat in front of it, leaning on the side of the settee.

'Please!'

'No.' I said, massaging one of her shoulders.

'I can talk my brothers out of their talk they're planning for you,' she sat up, leaning on one of her elbows as she grinned at me.

'What talk?' I panicked.

'Ah, well, if you don't tell me where we going you''ll soon find out.' Ella laughed, leaning forward to kiss my cheek.

'They're planning a speech?' I asked again.

'Oh, they're planning more than a speech. A full scripted conversation with multiple pathways and a potential beating if you don't say the right thing,' she joked, lying back down again.

'You can talk them out of that?'

'Of course,' Ella said smugly. 'They don't dare upset me in case I start crying. Being a wuss is good at times,' I agreed with her logic – the second she seemed upset I would stop whatever the Hell we were going, or I was doing, to make sure she was okay. 'Even better when you are pregnant – you can just blame hormones for anything,'

'I fall for it every time,' I said and she nodded. I gently put my hand on her abdomen, rubbing it gently with my thumb.

'She is your daughter, though,'

'Yeah, I know.' I laughed gently, leaning forward to kiss her bare abdomen.

'So, you are going to tell me where we are going then? Well, me and your daughter.' She asked, giving me the puppy dog eyes. I sighed before telling her we're going back down to Bude and the small beach she went to when she was a kid.

However, that morning I told her I was going out with my parents for lunch but I never actually met my parents. Instead, I headed down into Reading town centre and into a small jewellers and brought her what will hopefully be our engagement ring. A pure silver ring which had split into three near the front, with the top on the left side, and the bottom on the right made out of diamond, before meeting in the middle with a larger diamond. I had managed to get the ring in her size – and we won't discuss how expensive it was – and even got the word "forever" engraved on the inside mainly because I can. I had even brought the red velvet box to keep the ring in, and hid it in my pocket. Thankfully when I came home she was in the bathroom and I hid the very expensive ring under the bed where Ella would never go before heading into the bathroom to find watching Disney films in the bath.

Ella still had no idea we were going down to Cornwall for me to propose to her like I promised her before we went into the warehouse before it all kicked off. However, she doesn't remember me saying that. She can't remember anything that had happened after we parked the car in the beach car park. The amount of times I sat her down and told me to tell her wht she remembers and she remembers parking the car up, both of us putting the blanket over our stuff in the back and locking the car but that was it. She couldn't remember the walk up the hill and picking up our hired boat, or getting into the boat and travelling to the island or even getting bombed. Nothing. She didn't even remember me promising to marry her if we got out alive. This would be such a surprise for her.

She quietly muttered something in her light sleep state, adjusting how she was lying in the passenger seat, the blanket falling off her shoulders and into her lap.

'You up?' I whispered to her, and she nodded gently.

'Where are we?'

'M5. We're about two hours away,' I whispered as she nodded. Adorably, she rubbed her eyes and took the blanket off her lap and threw it in the back, adjusting how she was sitting slightly and drew her legs up to her chest – a gesture that seemed completely her and something she does when she's either very comfortable or very scared.

'You haven't got lost yet?'

'Not yet, I followed the directions you wrote down for me to the T. Get onto the M4, follow signposts to Bristol, and then change onto the M5.' I explained, indicating to go back into the middle lane.

'Good boy,' She laughed slightly, taking out her phone from her pocket, sighing then locking it, throwing it into the well in her door.

'Vick?' I asked her and she rolled her eyes.

'Yup,'

'What does he want this time,' I asked getting increasingly pissed off with him. Okay, I was viewing everything he was doing knowing that Ella was about eighteen weeks pregnant now even though neither of our families – apart from Sky and Jake – knew but he was getting on my nerves. Who casually calls up their sister asking her to fly over the next day to get involved in a mass murderer case and use her as bait for a registered sex offender? Sure, it would work in theory but as if I would even let Ella go over there to do that.

'Still wanting me to be a slut.'

'Can he fuck off?' I snapped and she bit her lip.

'He's only asking because I've done it a few times before.' She mumbled and if I wasn't on the motorway I would have emergency stopped in shock.

'What do you mean you've done it a few times before?'

'Well – when we're on a case we often get predictions, foreshadowing's mainly by Zed, of these registered sex offenders coming over into Colorado mainly because weed's legal so they can stock up and what not, but he always sees them hitting on young girls who are like fourteen. That's not right. So I pretend I'm a lot younger than I am, lure them out kind of thing, knock them unconscious the second they touch me and get them arrested.'

'Ella!'

'I know it's stupid and I won't do it now,' She replied back.

'Why would you ever put yourself at risk?'

'It's the only way to get around these things and help innocent people – they don't deserve that.'

'Neither do you,' I reminded her and she shrugged. 'No, you have done absolutely nothing wrong to be treated like that. No one has. These people are sick in the brain to think what they're doing is even remotely sane. No one deserves that.' I argued and she just sighed slightly.

'That's why he asked. Please don't hate him,' she whispered back and I quickly touched her knee.

'I don't hate him. I'm getting pissed off with him for asking you to put yourself at risk but I'd get pissed off with anyone who convinces you to do something dangerous. I don't hate him, and i'm not annoyed at you either.' I said, tracing circles around her knee cap.

'You sound it,'

'Well, what you did in the past was pretty stupid.' I laughed slightly and even saw her gently smile. Have I mentioned how beautiful she was? 'Just promise me you won't do stupid things like that again?'

'Promise.'

 _7:21pm, the same day_

I sat anxiously on the couch of the little seaside retreat I had booked for Ella and I, strangely amazed at how good a choice I picked. The bungalow was an absolute dream. The living room diner had an absolutely wonderful view of the balcony which overlooked Widemouth beach, which had the tide out leaving large puddles on the wet sand beach. The sun had just started to set, throwing orange strands of sunshine into the air and causing the entire sky to be a wonderful yellow orange shade as it reflected on the gentle ocean. The car park for the beach was now deserted, only a few camper homes remaining for sunset. The only people on the beach were a few dog walkers, those packing up for the day and a few isolated surfers. Ella would be among those surfers if I had been truthful and said I had hired surfboards for the trip and they were in the garage, but I wanted this to be our moment. I still could barely surf despite the hours she spent trying to teach me, and proposing out at sea would be the trickiest thing I could ever do.

I was glad the beach was relatively isolated and had hardly anyone on. I knew Ella well enough to know that anything where she would be centre of attention in front of strangers, or anyone really would put her off and would scare her. That's why I wouldn't propose at a restaurant like most do, or do a flash dance for her. At sunset on the beach she loved the most where no one was watching us – where it could just be me and her was the most idealistic idea I had when trying to plan this. So I booked this little retreat for three days so we could have some time together before we were forced to go back to Ascot where we now lived in our flat and then fly out to Colorado a day after we get back.

Although, I couldn't have done this all alone. I had little to no idea what I was actually doing when it came to anything relatively female so I asked the worst people to possibly help me organise this – Ella's brothers Michael, Zed, Yves and Xav as well as Jake and Carly. Although all of them together were next to no help and just constantly contradicted each other and led to me having stern words several times (mainly from Michael) we finally managed to find this cute place within the beginning week of August when school was out on holiday. However, tentative as I am to say this but I think Michael doesn't mind me now. He as very, very pissed off with me when he found out about Ella and I, but since then Ella must have had some stern words with him and he seems okay. He's very tentative and watchful of when we are together, but he seems to like me a bit more. He said he doesn't like me very much but I must be an "alright" thing as Ella seems a lot happier so he was willing to help me with the engagement plans. Her other brothers just kept asking questions and I got more and more confused, but they also seemed to like me and demanded to know what Ella said the second she either agreed to marry me or – or what? What if she says no? Oh God.

I pulled out the ring box from my pocket in my beach shorts, opening the box slowly and peering at the glistening ring. What if this isn't what she wanted and she said no and just walked off again? Then what would be my plan?

'Can we discuss the pillows? Like holy shit they're soft –' Ella came around the corner in a grey vest top and a pair of denim shorts, but she paused when she came into eyesight. As I heard her speak I shoved the box back into my pocket. 'You alright?'

'Yeah, I'm fine – why?'

'You just looked... scared.' She frowned and I kissed her forehead.

'I'm not scared of anything, you good to go? I wanna build a sand castle.' I joked, pulling her towards the door, holding her hand as we stood over the threshold of the sliding patio doors. She waited by my side but turned to admire the view as I locked the door.

'It's stunning,' She whispered, taking my hand again as we walked down the stairs, into the small rear garden which led onto the main driveway into town and onto the desolated roads which would eventually lead to the safe house– now a retired holiday home. Ella and I walked in near enough absolute silence down the road, across the grass makeshift car park and down the concrete steps onto the beach. I followed Ella as she found a little spot to sit – a good two hundred odd meters away from the stairs and any other sign of life but with a perfect view of the ocean, the few surfers catching their last waves. I looked around and saw no one was nearby who was watching and took a deep breath.

'You okay? Are you tired?' Ella asked, frowning as she looked up at me. I held her waist, swaying her slightly.

'I'm fine –'

'You look petrified.'

'Ella, listen.' I said, pulling away slightly so I could look at her as I spoke but I noticed the little frown she had, and she almost looked scared too. I frowned back, gently dipping into her mind – something that I hated doing as it almost invaded her privacy and something I vowed never to do unless I had too or had great concern – and read why she looked scared too. Ella was anxious and scared that I would just up and leave her, and that the baby was too much commitment for me. She was absolutely terrified that she did ruin me and I had enough so was going to leave, and leave her to raise our child alone. Poor girl! 'Firstly, sorry I dipped into your mind and I am never going to leave you, or our baby girl ever okay? You don't need to worry about being alone with her, I will always be here.' I bent forward and kissed her slightly as she nodded but she didn't seem entirely convinced.

Here goes nothing.

'Ella, I've said this before but I'm going to say it again. I've been in love with you for ages now. When Jake first started working at Maui and he used to come home with these tales of a girl the same age of me doing all these wonderful things I thought you were some sort of mythical legend. Someone who was just too good at everything to even be in the same realm as me. Jake never shut up about you, and even though I never met you or saw you I was just so jealous and had the biggest crush on you. And then all my dreams came true, out of nowhere you just appeared to do an interview with a murderer and you were just everything in the twenty off minutes we were together. I couldn't get over how beautiful you are, the way you sat so confidently despite being nervous and just how polite and witty you are, and also sarcastic but that's a pain in the ass sometimes. And then at that Race for Life when you were looking after Amelia, you were just... incredible. And the more I got to know you the more you meant to me so by the time we made it down to Cornwall I knew that I loved you. You meant everything to me. I would do anything for you. I would bring you all the stars if you so even hinted for them, but I wouldn't need too because you already are one. Where am I going with this – I am rambling.' I laughed to myself as Ella continued to watch me slightly confused. Oh yeah – engagement.

'Ella. I love you so much I can't live without you. Even when you've gone to work for the day I just want you by my side. You mean absolutely everything to me. So Ella,' I sighed for a second, putting my hand in my pocket finding the soft surface of the velvet ring box, thankful it was still in there. Imagine how awkward it would have been if I lost her ring. I watched her face as she frowned at the box and the realisation sunk it and she covered her mouth with her hands, her eyes watering up. Slowly, I got down onto one knee as I opened the ring box, showing her what was inside as a tear ran down her cheek. 'Will you marry me?'

Silence as Ella continued to look at me in shock. 'This is the part where most people reply,' I laughed awkwardly as she continued to do nothing. Then all of a sudden Ella lunged herself at me, her arms wrapping around my neck as I stood up, hugging her around her waist.

'Of course I will,' she whispered. 'What kind of a question even is that?'

I pulled back slightly and with shaking hands put the engagement ring on the right hand on the correct finger (something I had to Google) as Ella laughed slightly. I wiped away one of her tears as I kissed her again and heard the sound of people clapping. I frowned, looking up at the top of the cliff where three surfers had watched the whole thing and were now applauding us.

'We want to be invited to the wedding!' One of them shouted down as we both laughed, Ella covering her face again as she leaned against my chest, the ring now a welcome addition to her small hands.

'I'm never going to leave you,' I whispered to Ella – my beautiful fiancée and the mother of my unborn daughter.

'I never wanted you too.' She gently replied.

 _I planned for this to be the end of the book, but so many of you requested they wanted more which would include all the family and the pregnancy and the family that there will be quite a few more chapters after this. They don't really have a story line but continue to follow Ella and Joe throughout the next few months from August – when all this happened to mid April next year. Quite a few cute things happen as obviously the baby arrived in that time (and will also have a name... obviously but we'll keep the name under wraps until that chapter comes around) so if you want to see more of Ella, Joe, Michael, the Benedict's, Jake and Quinn as well as Joe's family and of course the baby girl keep reading. But also, thank you to everyone who has been reading and commenting/reviewing the book as it unfolds and following it every step of the way and reading all the updates the second they come out or binge reading it at night. I have read every single comment, and inbox message and whilst I may not reply to all of them – either because I see them at work when I'm not supposed to be on my phone then forget to reply or just forget to send it – it really does mean everything to me. Thank you, all, so much._

 _I suppose this is also a good time to mention there will be a sequel. It won't follow Ella and Joe (and baby girl Matthews as we shall call her,) but it will involved them and everyone else in this book who you've got to know and fall in love with like I have – hopefully. I mentioned who it involved in a sneak preview. It involves Jason, Joe's best friend and him finding his Soulfinder (even though he's not a Savant... that he knows of, yet.)_

 _One final thing I ask is if you want to continue reading about Ella and Joe, and their baby, is would you want it all to continue in "Capturing Ella", or would you want it to go into a separate story. Please do let me know, it will mean everything. Once again, thank you for reading and supporting and everything!_


	59. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 58 - Ella

**Chapter 58 – Ella**

 _August 8_ _th_ _, 2015._

'I'm terrified,' Joe owned up to me, leaning back in his chair. Thanks for the generosity of Maui – also known as "We feel sorry for you, and the injuries you have got from our stupid safe base position and us hiring the wrong people to nearly get you two killed several times" they upgrades our already free seats to first class for the flight back to Colorado. We never really wanted the upgrade as we were more than happy in economy for the nine hours back home for me, but they upgrades us relentlessly. They even said in the email we would get complimentary champagne – which I couldn't have. Assholes. I put the glass down, glaring at it evilly. Just tempt me with what I can't have.

'I told you! You really should have told work you're pregnant by now,' Joe said, leaning over to kiss my cheek as I gave him an evil look. Bastard thought the whole champagne thing was funny.

'How about you tell them, then?' I asked, glaring at him and he shrugged with one shoulder, sitting down on the sofa to tie his shoes. 'I mean it took two of us to tango –'

'True, but you'd be the one to get maternity leave,'

'Whatever,' I laughed, knowing work couldn't remain ignorant for long. I had pulled back up the contract on my laptop and saw they would arrange maternity leave when the twenty week scan was complete so I still had time. I was only nineteen week pregnant – and was in Colorado for ten days and had the twenty week scan (even though it was about twenty two or twenty one and a bit week scan) the day after we landed.

'Why are you terrified?' I asked, holding his hand when looking out the window across Heathrow's departure building and the runway. It was a stupidly early flight – we were leaving at half six in the morning, and even though it was basically a ten hour flight by the time we got to depart and get the hell off the airplane, we would arrive in Denver at about 9am – meaning we would have a bloody long day to start with.

'What if everyone hates me?' Joe mumbled and I laughed slightly leaning on him.

'They won't hate you,' I whispered back but he remained silent. 'They'll be uneasy around you to start with – almost like they're awkward around you but if you give it time you'lll be absolutely fine. I won't leave you alone with them at first, don't worry.'

'Are we going to tell them you're pregnant?' Joe whispers, playing gently with my engagement ring, spinning it slightly as I grinned at him.

'I might tell my brothers first brother. My parents – they'd be unbearable. I might just leave my parents a note on the bed – maybe even one of the ultrasounds as well,'

'Ella, you know you have to tell them – right?' Joe whispered to me sleepily, his arm around my shoulders like he normally does, my right hand on his thigh.

'I know.' I whispered back. Truth be told, I was scared of telling my religious parents that I had got pregnant on a one night stand when I was on holiday – when they told me they trusted me to be sensible and safe – with my Soulfinder. How would I even explain to them the whole story? They believe that if you know your Soulfinder you had to be dedicated to each other since the start and I ignored that. I thought I would ruin Joe – and at times I think I still will ruin Joe – and I even think I did ruin Joe with my stupid acts but I ruined him but it was enough for him to rebuild himself to include me. I was so glad that he found out about the whole Soulfinder thing because if he didn't where would we be now? Would be even be together? Would I of had to raise our baby alone? I immediately put my hand over my abdomen.

'Ella, you're over thinking the past again,' Joe mumbled in my hair and I shrugged. I can't help but think of the what ifs.

'Don't think of the what if's, they never happened. What happened was we got out relatively safe and alive, and now we're engaged and have a baby on the way that both of us will love and cherish and we will raise the kid together and we will raise the kid properly as well. We're staying together, me and you. That's all you need to worry about,' Joe said, smiling down at me as I grinned up at him, stretching up to kiss him.

'Is this a bad time to mention I'm scared of flying,' Joe whispered holding my hand.

'You're scared of flying? Since when?' I asked.

'I've never been easy with it but since... you know.' He shrugged and I leaned against him.

'We'll be fine hun, I'll be here.' I tried to reassure him, holding his hand even tighter. He smiled slightly, kissing the top of my head but still looked slightly anxious.

Twenty odd minutes after the pilot told us we were at the correct altitude to release our seatbelts, both Joe and I reclined our chairs into the laying position they had in first class and snuggled up to go to sleep. Joe fell asleep strangely quickly having been up the night before worrying about the flight. I stayed awake. Truth be told I was absolutely terrified for this to happen. I knew that my parents would be fine with Joe, and if they were fine with Joe all my brothers will be as well but I was absolutely terrified it would all kick off. As the only girl within the family everyone was stupidly overprotective of me and were always joking about killing the person who dared to touch me if I didn't get there first. I knew it was a joke, but I was still panicking. I hoped they loved Joe because there was no way I would leave him, but I didn't want to leave my family either.

 _10:55am, Colorado_

I had been milling over my thoughts the entire plane journey over here, only briefly pausing when Joe woke up and we had another deep and meaningful conversation about our fears of meeting my parents and my brothers. It ended up with me crying and Joe having to hug me for about an hour or so.

'You literally live in the middle of nowhere – don't you?' Joe laughed, sitting in the passenger seat as I drove down the main road into Wrickenridge. I say "main road" and it even said so on the map but only three cars had passed me in the last twenty minutes. We had drove past all the other roads, and now the only destination for this road was my home town.

'Very isolated. It was brilliant,' I laughed as we drove past the wooden road sign welcoming us into the town. I breathed in a juddery breath.

'Hey, it'll be fine.' Joe said as I headed towards the town centre. I only had a few more minutes to prepared myself for the onslaught of family.


	60. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 59 - Ella

**Chapter 59 – Ella**

I pulled up our hired car in the driveway in front of the double garages, putting on the hand break before turning of the ignition. I sighed slightly, frowning at my childhood house completely terrified of what was to come. Whilst near enough all my brothers had met Joe, they were only able to visit for a few days and none of them saw me conscious with him. They had treated him civilly, almost like the way they would treat a doctor or one of my friends. I suppose none of them had known that we were Soulfinder's as Joe completely chickened out of telling them and waited for me to wake up to tell them – and by that time they were back in Colorado. The brother's that stayed over – well, it was only Zed and Xav who could break their previous commitments – had got to know Joe and I together and were completely chill with the whole thing. Everyone had seemed absolutely over the moon when we got engaged but all my other brothers were getting annoyed that I hadn't brought him over to meet the family yet. I protested that it was because I wasn't allowed to fly yet (which was true – doctors orders) but if Joe didn't book the tickets for us, and Maui guaranteed them, I would not have come over. I wasn't looking forward to this in the slightest.

'Ella, you're stalling hun,' Joe whispered and I realised I've been looking at the house in slight horror for near enough five minutes, 'They'll be fine with everything,' Joe whispered and I nodded.

Would my religious parents be overly happy that I managed to get pregnant during a one night stand? Debatable. Could you call them religious? Also debatable. Saul was part of a mountain tribe and always saw my moves as something to do with ancestors, whilst Karla was of Catholic blood line – that would be the issue. Karla wasn't happy when I told her how could we all be sure we were "straight", we never knew if our Soulfinder was of a different gender or not. I didn't really care, finding personality much more interesting than gender. When one of my brothers pointed that I would probably be classes as bisexual, it didn't concern me in the slightest. Karla then also gave me a massive lecture when I said I don't see the issue of having a child out of wedlock and relatively young if you were willing to dedicate your life to your child, and you were able to financially support said offspring. We always had conflicting opinions which were usually caused by her Catholic bloodline, and my open thinking. Saul would never be the issue, really, apart from maybe just giving Joe and I a stern lecture, it would be Karla. She had always lectured me about staying "pure" until marriage, which I just winced at. Karla would not be happy that I was pregnant way before marriage and she would be so annoyed if she found out that I got pregnant when I wasn't even with Joe. Two options; tell her the truth or say we were together but I just never told her.

'They won't even ask, come on. Let's face the music.' Joe whispered obviously spying on my thoughts. He opened the door, kicking it shut behind and coming around my side of the car, opening my door after. He gave me his hand after I unbuckled my seatbelt and he pulled me to a stand. I sighed and walked over towards the door. Here goes nothing.

'I'm home,' I called into the house the second the door opening, but no one replied. I pulled Joe in slightly as he held my hand. 'Anyone home?' I repeated but sure enough no one replied.

'You're an idiot,' Joe laughed, grabbing my waist and hugging me. 'You said you'd be here tonight so we didn't have a surprise party to be greeted too. That's why no one's home – they aren't expecting us to rock up,'

'I thought I was being smart,'

'You were!' Joe kissed me gently as I wrapped my arms around his neck, going on tiptoes to deepen the kiss. He groaned slightly, kissing me deeper his hand tightening around my waist, lifting my shirt up slightly to rub my back as I played with the buttons on his jeans, slowly undoing them with my other hand toying with the hem of his Calvin Klien's.

'None of that in your parents house,' Joe said, smiling down at me as I pretended to sulk.

'But it was fine at yours –' I hesitated slightly, hearing the slight squeaking sound. I frowned looking towards the closed kitchen door and heard the sound of scratching on the wooden door. Excitedly I jumped up and bounded towards the door, opening it up to be greeting by our border collie dog, Cotton.

'Hello you fluff ball!' I said to the dog, crouching down as she licked my face as I fussed her. 'Oh, I've missed you Sheepy,' I said, hugging her around her neck before she noticed Joe standing behind me, running up to greet him. He laughed slightly, crouching down like I normally do to fuss her.

'Her name isn't normally Sheepy?'

'Nah, it's Cotton.' I said, the sheepdog responding to her name. She bounced back to me, her whole body wagging, before running over to Joe, who looked more than happy to play with the dog for years. Cotton realised she wouldn't get a fuss forever, and ran over to get a ball, dropping it by Joe's feet. He laughed slightly, picking it up and throwing it down the hallway. I yawned, my hand covering my mouth.

'You tired, hun?' Joe asked and I nodded. 'Let's go get our stuff from the car and unpack then you can have a nap – it'll be a long day.' Joe whispered.

Three hours later, we were both on one of the sofa's within the living room in slightly more relaxed clothes – me having already changed into a pair of leggings and a baggy shirt leaning against Joe's chest half asleep catching up on shitty TV channels I had recorded before I went to England at the beginning of July which was just over a month ago. Eighteen days in Cornwall, five days in hospital, and then two weeks of recovery.

'I think British Jeremy Kyle is better,' Joe honestly whispered to me and I laughed slightly.

'Agreed,' I drew patterns on his leg. A few minutes later we heard a key in the front door and looked at each other slightly scared.

'Ella won't be here yet, her flight doesn't get into eight tonight,' I heard Sky said as she walked into the house, 'It's probably just a tourist's car got a bit lost that's all.' She reassured as I jumped out of Joe's arm and walked towards the door.

'I guess,' Zed replied, slamming the door. 'I can't wait for her to be back. Sounds stupid but I've missed her being a pain in the ass,'

'I'm not a pain in the ass, how dare you.' I came around the corner of the door pretending to be pissed off as he ran forward to hug me, lifting me off the ground as I heard Joe laugh gentle behind me, standing up from the sofa.

'I've missed you, sis!' He whispered in my ear as he spun me around. Zed eventually put me back down on the floor. 'Is that it? Are you back over here from now?'

I looked over at Joe with a guilty expression and he came up behind me and put his hand on my back, trying to calm down the inevitable wave of panic.

'We're working on it,' Joe said for me but Sky just frowned at me.

'Why do you feel guilty and sad?' She whispered and Zed backed away slightly standing by her side. 'What's up?'

'Er, how to explain it, you know why,' I laughed guiltily but had to wipe away a tear. Sky nodded slightly. Joe put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into him, kissing my forehead.

 _You might just have to tell them everything._ Joe gently told me and I nodded.

 _Oh God._ I replied, rolling into Joe's chest as I cried a bit more. I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings.

'Is she okay?' Zed asked Joe over the top of my head and I felt him nod.

'I think she needs to tell you something,' Joe gently said and I felt Zed's hand against my back.

'Is she okay?' Zed repeated. Did he sound slightly more hostile or was that my imagination?

'Do you want me to be there?' Joe whispered, and I shook my head. I didn't know how Zed would react when he found out I was pregnant. Even though he was a school bad boy and was known for his explosive aggression he had lapsed out of that tendency when he met Sky. Well, "lapsed" would be the corrective term. He was more calm and collective – happy even – but it still didn't stop him getting aggressive when someone picked on Sky, even in a jokey way. So, best to do it away from Sky and Joe, then.

Thinking quickly I had to get Zed to follow me but leave the other two stranded. I turned around and ran upstairs, wiping away a fake tear as I did.

'Ella!' Zed called up after me but I continued to run up the stairs. I heard Zed mumble something to Joe, and Joe reply back and the sound of someone running up the stairs after me. I ran across the landing on the first floor and up the stairs to my bedroom. Having been the insomniac of the family, I had the bedroom right on the top floor in the corner which also had an en-suite. Also on the second floor of our large house was Zed's bedroom opposite mine, a study room which had been littered with musical instrument and thick books from High school and my older brothers college books from years previous. There was of course another bathroom on the floor and the trap door to the loft. I ran straight into my room pausing slightly when I realise what has happened since the last time I was in this room. The biggest thing was the anatomical changes happen in my body that I wasn't aware of when I left to England.

'Ella, what's wrong with you – are you okay?' Zed said, slamming the door behind him, coming up to me and holding my arms trying to get me to look him in the eye but I continued to look at the floor.

'I'm going to kill Joe – what he has done to you,' Zed asked, walking towards the door.

'Don't you dare,' I whispered.

'What's up – are you okay?' Zed asked again.

'Yeah, I'm fine,'

'You're not – that's why you're up here to talk to me.' Zed simply said. How did I tell him that I was pregnant? I breathed in a rakey breath trying to calm myself. I thought Zed would be the easiest person to tell. We were always partnered up in lessons since 1st grade, and even though he could read my thoughts I could basically read his. We were effectively twins, knowing each other's movements, every single emotion, before they even happen. But he didn't expect this and I didn't know how to tell him.

'In April, you saw me with a baby and thought it was Diamond's baby, but then you realise it was Jake's twins. I still think your wrong,' I started to explain.

'Nope, I'm always right. It makes sense – you're now like officially with Joe so the twins will think your their aunt, which you basically are now. I'm right,' Zed boasted.

'Not this time,' I said, looking out the window.

'Na – explain to me how I'm not right – I know what I saw!' Zed laughed, walking over to me, standing behind me.

'You know what you saw, you're jumping leaps to make sense like you always do.' I simply said, shaking my head. 'Amateur.' I turned around. 'You haven't shaved, you better shave.' I laughed at him as he rubbed his chin. Nothing had changed about him – his tousled hair was still tousled, stubble ever present and still had the concerned look he holds in his eyes around me – the green blue, like a murky river brimming with emotion.

'What do you mean, Ella?'

I dug into the pocket in my jumper, my fingers gently touching the paper wallet with the ultrasound in. I sighed slightly. The second this wallet left my fingers, it would be time to tell the world. It used to just me, Joe and the baby – with the exception of Jake, Jason and Sky. Now, who won't know? I pulled it out and handed it to him. He frowned at it as I closed my eyes and projected to see me. He opened the wallet, frowning slightly but his face went clear of emotion as he came to realise what exactly he was looking at. As I watched on he triple checked the name and details on the top of the scan which of course did match up.

'Really?' He just whispered and I hugged myself a bit tighter, shaking.

'Sorry,' I whispered gently hoping he wouldn't just hate me. Instead he came up beside me and hugged me tightly from behind lifting me up and spinning me around, grinning the entire time.

'Congrats, El!' He said into my hair as I started to cry. 'Ella, what's up, why are you crying? Isn't this what you want?' Zed started to promptly question as he lead to my bed to sit me down, kneeling down in front of me.

'I dunno,' I laughed hollowly wiping my tear away.

'What do you mean you don't know if this is what you want? Has Joe forced this on you,' Zed said, crouching downing in front of me. I immediately shook my head. I said I dunno why I was crying – not that I was confuse if I wanted the baby. But before I could testify there was a knock at the door and Joe opened the door looking entirely confused as to why I was crying and why Zed looked like he wanted to murder him.

'Ella, you okay?' Joe said, creeping in slightly as Zed stood up.

'Are you forcing her to do this?' Zed said, squaring up to Joe. Joe looked completely confused and looked over to where I was crying sitting hunched over on the bed. Rather than square up for a fight with my youngest brother, he came straight over to me and put his arm around my shoulder.

'What's up?'

'I meant I dunno why I'm crying, you idiot.' I told Zed and he backed down and I could sense he felt sorry for squaring up to Joe and therefore pissing me off. So he should, if I wasn't in the middle of crying I would have had a massive go at him.

'You'll be okay,' He mumbled to my neck, kissing me slightly.

'What are you lot up too?' Sky called, coming around the corner.

'Ella's pregnant,' Zed spilled and then looked guilty back at us. Clearly someone was having a tough time with what to feel at the moment.

'I know,' Sky whispered, coming over to pick up the ultrasound on the bed and looking at it intently.

'You know? How?' Zed asked, shocked. Sky looked over at me to diffuse the situation which I probably did cause. She held onto that secret a lot better than I ever anticipated her too. I thought she would at least tell Zed, but she kept it tightly to her chest. I had to send her a picture of the ultrasound when we had it done and she saved it on her phone. Not only that, she sent back a picture of a white babygrow with the words "My best aunt brought me this" written on the front in Sky's cursive handwriting and I laughed. The caption read 'Claiming the title early!' but it still meant a lot knowing she'd be on my side during this whole thing.

'Er, I told her.' I added on.

'When? Just now?' Zed asked confused, sitting down on the edge of the bed to look at the ultrasound and I saw the faint trace of a smile. I sighed so relieved that he didn't mind and even seemed, well, excited.

'Er, no. After I was discharged from hospital and you came around for KFC and we went to discuss graduation plans? Yeah, we weren't discussing graduation plans,'

'You've known for how long?' Zed laughed, hitting Sky's arm as she slapped his leg.

'She didn't let me tell you!' Sky protested, pointing at me but looking at the ultrasound in detail, her face shining with excitement. II smiled at them both, nicking Sky's gift for a second to see exactly how they felt. Zed and Sky were a wonderful blend on golden love, a turquoise metallic colour of dedication. Those two colours seemed familiar as they were always the colours that encased Joe and I and even now, where Joe stood with his arm with my shoulder I can see the colour encasing us both too. But the other colours that surrounded Zed and Sky were the green of confusion and the bright pink of excitement.

I grinned entirely at them both, feeling so happy that they were excited for our daughter's arrival. The due date at this rate could not come quicker.

'Zed, Sky, you home yet?' Karla called up the stairs and we all looked at each other.

'Please don't tell them yet, I can't deal with them yet. I want to tell all the brothers first and then Mum and Dad, okay?' I begged of them and they both nodded quickly.

'Yeah Mom, we'll be down in a second,' Zed called before reverting back to whispering. 'They think you'll be home late tonight, what are you going to do?'

'Er, sneak down in a second and scare them,' I laughed and they both nodded, smiling at the ultrasound before laying it gently on the bed and walking out the room. Two down, eleven more to go on my side, eight on Joe's side. And that was just our siblings and parents. We could be in for a long few weeks of excitement and emotions.


	61. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 60 - Ella

noChapter 60 – Ella

Fifteen minutes later, we were both still in my bedroom hugging each other. We could faintly hear conversations happening in the kitchen, with the cafetiere making its normal clanking when it hit the side of the jug. But we were both hesitant to go downstairs. But we knew the longer we left it, the worse it would be when we did eventually go downstairs. We were just building up the courage. And by that, I mean Joe was building up the courage and I was bricking it for him. You see, my parents had only even met Joe when I was in hospital and in a coma. He told me that my parents liked him and how protective he was of me but they couldn't take the time off but promised to fly over when I was awake. However we had to settle for me flying over when I was allowed to – hence why we're over here now. This just meant they never saw me and Joe together. Sure, gave us time to settle down together but it just meant the anticipation was woeful.

'They'll be fine, right?' Joe told me and I nodded.

'Over the moon – which is why I'm scared,' I muttered, turning around into his chest as he hugged me tighter.

'Why?'

'I can't deal with them asking all their questions and then I have to explain how much of a bitch I was. They'll be so disappointed with me,'

'They won't be disappointed!' Joe protested, hugging me tighter but I wasn't as easy to believe his words.

'You don't understand how much of a big thing this is to them. They just expect if you know, you're immediately devoted and joined at the hip. They'll think I'm stupid,'

'Ella, stop it.' Joe simply said, kissing me sharp on the lips. 'They won't. We can just say we both didn't get on very well so we gave it a break to let things settle down if you want too,'

'Then that makes it seem like you're a dick and you're not,' I rested against his chest listening to the sturdy and constant beating of his heart. 'I'll just have to tell them,' I whispered, starting to shake slightly. I guessed I was a more cold than I had perceived as my gift had once again started to slip. The bottle of water on the side was now a solid ice cylinder and icicles were forming from the window. I've never been this bad and reckless with my gift – what was going on?

'Hey, Ella, calm down. It's okay,' Joe gently reassured me, telekinetically moving the blanket around my shoulders and hugging me tighter, 'God, you're freezing, come on.' Joe whispered, attempting to lead me to the bed but when I didn't move – the cold starting to get to my brain already, Joe threw the duvet around my shoulders too before picking me up bridal style and walking downstairs with me in his arms. I was already in the danger zone of passing out – I recognised the symptoms before they happened and being this light headed and wanting to take my clothes off to get warm only meant I was in a dangerous state.

 _Where are you taking me?_

 _Downstairs, we need to get something warm in you like the midwife told us too._ Joe explained, kissing my cheek.

 _Not exactly the way I wanted to introduce you to my parents._

Joe got down to the bottom of the staircase; me still curled up freezing in his arms as he turned to walk into the kitchen. But before he even got towards the door , Karla opened the door.

'What's happened to her? Why are you both here so early?' Karla ran forward as I tried to wiggle out of Joe's arms but he tightened his grip around me almost like he was prepared that I would try to escape from his bridal carry.

'Her temperature has dropped suddenly,' Joe explained as Karla hushed him into the kitchen, sitting me down on one of the chairs. Joe knelt down beside me, wrapping the duvet around my shoulders, the blanket on my lap, hand of my knee the entire time as Zed got up to make me a hot chocolate. However, I could see the instant apology in Joe's eyes for forcing us to meet my parents like this but I knew he just wanted what was better for me and the baby.

'Ella, I thought you were getting better at controlling your gift, especially with Joe around,' Saul lectured me gently sitting opposite me at the kitchen table.

'I am getting better,' I mumbled angrily as Joe sat down beside me, his arm around my shoulder pulling me into his side. Even though everyone else thought it was a romantic gesture and in some way it was, the pressure in the way he held my arm warned me not to carry on attempting to argue as it would make me worse. Not only that when he went to readjust the blanket I noticed his hand lingering flat against my abdomen for a second before dropping back down to his lap. Joe was blatantly warning me to be careful, not just for myself but also for our daughter and his silent warning was enough for me to realise I need to focus on getting warm again for our kid. Joe smiled gently at me, kissing my cheek as he overheard the shadows of my thoughts. Zed and Sky smiled keenly at us so I guessed Zed had overheard my thoughts about the baby too and had shared it with Sky. I briefly looked up at my parents who also smiled at us but thankfully it was seeing me and Joe happy together as oppose to my thoughts.

After ten or so minutes and a hot chocolate in me, my temperature had started to pick up to and I was able to talk a bit better and had also stopped shaking.

'So how did you two meet? Ella's been nothing but cryptic on the phone,' Karla exclaimed sitting down opposite me but the question was more addressed to Joe.

'Crystal,' I mumbled.

'Crystal found him? I didn't think you'd ask her!'

'I didn't ask her, she took it on her own liberty to find Joe when I was asleep.' I explained and sighed, knowing they were waiting for the rest of the story. 'I didn't want too, so I never told him because I was so stuck up my own arse and thought I knew what was right. My plan much to your horror was to never tell him and leave him high and dry because I was terrified I would ruin him. Bomb and death threat came along and he found out by accident and we worked it out.' I explained and I've never seen Karla more horrified. Oops – I'm just forfilling the role of the family failure. What a surprise!

'You didn't tell him?' Karla gasped.

'Nope,'

'I thought you always wanted to find your Soulfinder ever since we adopted you. It was your favourite story,' She whispered.

'I only did it because I never wanted to hurt him. I'm not stupid, Mum, I have seen how I interrupted your family. I saw the stress everyone was under after I attempted and how everyone tiptoes around me if I'm down. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was pressure my Soulfinder with that – it would ruin them. Or so I thought,' I smiled at Joe and he gently smiled back as I leaned into his chest.

Three hours of conversations later, Karla and Saul had to go back out to work, Zed and Sky went over to her parents on the other side of the town and we were left alone in the house. Unfortunately for us – well, Karla said it was an unfortunate but I still see it as a golden lining – there had been a major crash on the main road heading down this part of Colorado. No one had been seriously injured but the traffic went on for miles and the only other route to get into Wrickenridge was a nine hour drive. I had called all my brothers who were in Denver – this included Will, Trace, Uriel and Vick – telling them to come tomorrow Wrickenridge as the drive was going to take too long. Phee and Yves were flying in to another airport in Vail airport, which was west of Wrickenridge, so they'd drive down to see me tonight like planned. I wasn't going to lie; I was pretty excited to see them two again. Xav and Crystal are driving themselves down and were ahead of the traffic but had stopped off for a break in another ski town for a brief bit of shopping and had about an hour drive left ahead of them so they would be here tonight. It seemed okay – this gave me time to ease myself into telling everyone and not just in one go.

'I don't think your parents hate me,' Joe said and he seemed surprised. We were lying on the floor, my head on his stomach, with Cotton laying across my stomach, her mouth on what I guess would be the unperceivable baby bump. People always said dogs can sense when you're pregnant and I never believed it. Now, well, I guess this was good enough proof.

'They seemed fine with you – pissed off with me but fine with you.' I said, fussing Cotton's ear just the way she liked it.

'Yeah, you made yourself seem like a complete bitch when you weren't – that was the issue with that,' Joe told me, fiddling with my hair. 'I'm glad they're okay with us, though.'

'They're okay with us until they find out about the baby,' I said, putting my hand across my stomach.

'You're still not showing very much,' Joe whispered, putting his hand across my nearly flat stomach. I knew I wasn't showing much. Here's why;

There's a relative chance for everyone that when you conceive the baby with form in a way that the baby's spine will form back to your spine – so rather than grow out which in turn causes the visible bump the baby will more grow out, pushing everything in the wrong way so you don't really get a bump. The bump will form once the baby shifts back down. I had already been told by the midwife that the baby was starting to shift down and would take a while and would move a lot quicker once it reaches about twenty four weeks – a few weeks from now. The absolute tiny bump I did have was the very start of what was to come but to everyone else it either looked like I was completely the same and not pregnant or had put on a few pounds and that would link up nicely to my mobility issues due to the skin grafts and not being allowed out for my normal runs.

'Give it time,' I told Joe.

'Why do all these things take time. We've only known about our daughter for what, about five weeks now, and they seemed to have dragged. I just want her to be here,' Joe practically sulked and I looked up at him, grinning. 'I just want our daughter to be here with us where we can cuddle and carry her and put her to bed but watch over her.'

'Someone's broody,' I laughed, kissing him gently.

'I know, sorry.' He said, coving his face with his hands already yawning. How he was going to stay awake until a reasonably decent time tonight would be interesting. He was struggling to stay awake now and it was midday.

'Hell no, don't be sorry. I've known how much you want a baby and how good you are with them – I mean, you with the twins. Jeez,' I shook my head. 'When I snuck in at base at stupid o'clock in the morning and you was singing to them I may as well have been a walking puddle.'

'What do you mean?' He sat up, my head falling to his lap as I frowned up at him. Cotton looked up, tilting her head slightly as Joe moved but realised that he wasn't going to hurt me and settled back down again. I've missed having a dog.

'After the party, Crystal realised she left some things at base and so did I and at like half four in the morning I nicked Michael's car and drove in even though I wasn't meant to be there and crept into the lockers but you were sitting there with one of the twins – Amelia, I think, but I can't quite remember – settling her down and when I came out you were singing to her. You are so good with children and babies, so no – don't be sorry for being broody. It's attractive as fuck,' I whispered, sliding to sit up as Cotton jumped up on the sofa to carry on with her Border Collie dreams – probably wanting to herd sheep or something. Joe pulled me to stand up.

'You don't think it's bad?' Joe whispered, holding my head in one hand and running the other up and down my spine, causing goose bumps everywhere.

'Definitely not bad,' I whispered back, linking my arms around his neck.

'You're beautiful, you know that right?' Joe whispered, pulling my body against his. I just thanked my lucky stars that I was wearing my good underwear at the moment – matching (Always good to point out it's matching as the majority of my bras don't match any knickers I have – I never saw any point and coordination is just boring) lacy bra with red highlights and corresponding girl boxers brought from Victoria Secret's in Cornwall when I went down with the girls. Joe started to lift the material on the back of my shirt.

'You're not too bad yourself,' I joked as he kissed my neck. 'I think we should go upstairs,' I whispered, toying with his shirt.

'Why's that?' He breathily whispered and I gave him the look.

'Why not,' I shrugged but he knows why.

'Okay then, hun,' He caved in, picking me up and carrying me to the bedroom not once stopping to break the kiss.

I pulled the duvet up to my shoulders, covering my naked body as I smiled and looked at Joe, one arm under my neck playing with my hair, and the other rubbing my hip gently. I ran my finger up and down his bare chest as he continued to look at me, smiling softly the entire time.

'We're terrible people,' Joe whispered to me, pulling me in slightly against his naked body. I raised my eyebrow. 'This is your parent's house,'

'We done the same in your parent's house and more than one, too.' I whispered back and he kissed the top of my nose.

'Like I said – we're terrible people,'

'Terrible people stick together,' I mumbled and he nodded, tracing patterns on my back as I shivered.

'Of course we stick together, I'm never leaving you,' He whispered as I edged myself so I was laying on his chest, tracing the lines of his abdomen muscles.

'Joe?'

'Yeah hun?'

'Don't interrupt me until I finish, okay?' I looked up at him and he nodded, gesturing for me to go on. 'I want you to name our daughter. I could not have done any of this without you. If you just buggered off when you found out about the baby when what would I do without you? I can't function without you here with me. I don't think you understand how down and anxious I was before I met you. You can't tell anyone this but I couldn't see myself living past my twenty second or until Christmas because I was worthless and I had nothing but you changed all of that. You made life worth living. I was such an idiot thinking that we'd be better off if I never told you. I was so, so stupid to think that I could live without you. But even when I was telling you to bugger off or doing stupid you were still there calming me down. And when we were in Cornwall I would not have got out of my room, eaten or did basic care tasks if you didn't help me. There is absolutely no way that I can show you how thankful I am that you didn't leave me but this is the only way that I can think that would come close. Joe, will you name our daughter for us? Please?' I spoke so quickly and quietly he probably struggled to keep up.

'You idiot,' Joe whispered, kissing my forehead as I frowned. 'I stayed by your side because I wanted too, because you were my everything and because I wanted too. I wasn't going to bugger off because you were pregnant because, well, you know how much I wanted a baby and I wasn't going to ever be a jerk about it. I did everything because I love you and I will continue to do everything like that if you want me too and if you need me too. We're naming our daughter together.' Joe argued, holding my hand on his chest.

'No, you're naming her.'

'Ella,'

'Joseph.' I argued back immediately but as he went to continue with his proposed argument we heard the front door slam close and the sound of laughter. I quickly closed my eyes and projected down the stairs and saw Xav and Crystal walking in, bolting the door closed. They were talking loudly among themselves – mainly about me – thinking we had gone out but when they saw Cotton sparked out on the sofa they realised I must still be home. The vision of them walking up the stairs to the bedroom corresponded with the footsteps Joe heard.

'Crap,' Joe whispered.

'It's only Crystal and Xav –'

'Ella, we're naked in your bed after we just... you know and your brother and sister in law to be are walking up the stairs.'

'Just pretend to be asleep,' I laughed, telekinetically moving the pile of our clothes under the duvet – if they were still on the floor it would be very clear what we got up too – before pulling the duvet over my shoulders so only my head was visible as bare shoulders would be an indication that I was naked. I closed my eyes and I knew Joe did the same.

The door to my bedroom flew open and I flinched at the noise before pretending to be asleep again.

'Shit,' Xav whispered. 'Aww, they're asleep.'

'Hang on – Ella's actually asleep. What is this witchcraft?' Crystal joked and I knew they edged closer towards the bed. 'They're so cute that's not even fair.'

'We're cute,' Xav argued back.

'Not as cute as these two supermodels.' Crystal retorted.

'Come on, they must have had a hell of a long flight and drive on top of that. Ella doesn't sleep for long – let's make coffee.' Xav said and must have coaxed Crystal out of the room as the door closed quietly behind them and we heard footsteps on the stairs going down.

'Supermodel, hey,' Joe whispered seductively, playing with a lock of my hair and flicking me in the face with it. Cute and annoying.

'They're not on about me,' I mumbled as Joe kissed my neck, working down to my collar bone. I nudged him slightly when his kisses went a bit further down.

'We have to behave – there are others in the house now.' I protested but it was half hearted. There were too many hormones in my body right now and I could not be arsed to protest any further even though I really wouldn't mind it. Alas, had to fulfil my part to play. Joe, however, groaned and lay on my chest, running his hand across my stomach.

'Can't want for the bump to appear, then I won't look so stupid.' Joe muttered, kissing my stomach as something new happened. What I could only explain it was like a very sharp pain but from the inside working out but I knew exactly what that meant. The baby was kicking for the very first time. Even Joe shot back slightly, frowning wondering what had happened.

'Did she just...' Joe mumble and I nodded. I put my hand on my stomach again as Joe put his right next to mine, linking our pinkies together.

'Yeah, our baby is kicking.' I whispered, tearing up as I sat forward and Joe hugged me, kissing my gently but never moving his hand from my stomach.


	62. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 61 - Ella

_**A/N:**_ Hello! I need some help from you guys, like urgently. I put up the announcement that there will be an extended prologue that focuses on Ella growing up and meeting Sky, Phee and Crystal but also a book that is after this but I don't know which one to start writing first. Please, tell me which one you'd want to read first and I will start writing it tonight!

* * *

Chapter 61 – Ella

'Do you want to know what's weird?' Xav asked as we both walked into the kitchen to make the round of beverages. Despite the fact Joe and I were extremely jetlagged, and it was ten in the evening (meaning it was stupid hours of the morning in England), Karla decided coffee was an extremely good move.

Joe and I eventually managed to get the courage to go downstairs to see Xav and Crystal, but only after the baby had stopped kicking. It was a completely weird thing but it was entirely magical at the same time. I then had to lie around for a few minutes because the reality had kicked in. We were actually going to have a baby. Like a real life, living baby. And she would be ours forever. We would be parents forever. We had only just turned twenty one and we would have a baby. I knew some of my friends from school would have a massive go at me, not to even mention the talk from Tina and Zoe I would end up having but that wouldn't overly matter. Joe and I were going to be parents and we would have to do the whole things just the two of us. I knew full well Joe was absolutely brilliant with children and would be fine raising our daughter alone – it was me who was the real worry. I had little to no practise with babies and especially for a long time. Yeah, I mean I look after the cousins at our family get together, willingly let them dress me up like Disney princesses and run around with them, or send the young kids to sleep easily but that was only for a few hours a few times a year. We would have to do this a few times every day for the rest of our lives. Jeez, let's slow down on the existential crisis.

The last time I was in this house was before the whole bombing case and was coming up to two months ago, coffee this time of night seemed delightful. But I was an insomniac back then. Finding Joe put me back into a good sleeping pattern and ten in the evening seemed a wonderful bedtime. Xav poured water into a kettle – something I demanded in this house despite them not being too popular in America, a coffee maker was a better alternative – and stuck it on to boil. I quickly jumped up onto the kitchen side.

What? My intentions was never to make the coffee, it was to get this awkward conversation with Xav out the way and not in front of people. I wanted to tell Xav soon because he kept giving me funny looks from across the room. I guess if he could still get the medical feedback from me he knows something major has changed.

'What is weird, Xav, enlighten me on what is weird?' I asked knowing what it would be about.

'I'm still getting interference off you.'

'I know why.' I replied smugly, biting my lip. I knew telling Xav I was pregnant would be the worst mistake I could make but I was dying to tell someone. Suddenly, I wasn't too sure how to tell him or even how he would take it, but Xav would keep pestering me about this for the entire week we would be over here if I didn't tell him soon.

'Why?'

'If I tell you, you have to promise to be quiet.'

'Why would I be loud? What have you done? Did you get a tattoo done?' He asked.

'No, I know what you'd react and the decibel meter wouldn't have an appropriate level for you. Also, you can't tell anyone.'

'Not even Crystal?'

'Jesus Christ no, especially not Crystal. I will tackle her in my own time on the mountain somewhere. The decibel scale won't have a high enough reading for her noise, too.' I simply said and he narrowed his eyes at me.

'What have you done?'

I sighed, the words never coming out of my mouth. I thought it would be easy just to tell him, just to say the words I've been whispering, singing and shouting in my brain for the last few weeks but once it came to actually talking about it, and telling someone, I froze up. The only person I talked too freely was Joe for obvious reasons. Even though several people knew, I couldn't discuss it yet. Even Michael didn't know at this stage. We were both buzzing about it, but I froze up entirely. Xav continued to stare as I opened and closed my mouth like a fish out of water, taking jiggered breaths.

'Calm down, Ella, you're close to having a panic attack.' Xav said, coming over and putting his arm around me. He turned sincere all of a sudden. Not the type of Xav I would want to tell this too. 'Look, write it down if you need too. We can work it out as a family if it's bad, yeah?' He whispered, and I nodded. Yeah, work it out as a family with a little baby. I pulled out my phone from my pocket like he expected me too. Whenever I had to tell him something that I couldn't quite say he used to tell me to write it down and hand it to him. I used to suffer terribly from panic attacks over the smallest of things, but no one would know why because I was so secretive. Xav and I perfected this method as I used to respond better if I focused stimuli – which either was writing because the amount of hand eye coordination or reading as it focused my brain. So whenever no one could understand, Xav used to just sit in the corner with me and write down our conversations, handing our pad of paper backwards and forwards writing down our replies to each other until I calmed down. I opened my phone case, but rather than unlocking my phone, I pulled out a small piece of paper from the wallet compartment in the left hand side of the phone case and I handed it to him.

I watched him carefully, his hands shaking as he opened the piece of paper that showed the ultrasound of the baby. I watched as the normal confident jokey face he had on turned completely sober. He looked up at me in confusion as I just bit my lip, looking down. I was so scared of his reaction.

'No... no?' He simply said and I closed my eyes, biting back the tears. Oh God, I thought Xav would be over the moon excited but he just looked horrified. What if he had seen the baby's medical future? 'This is just a prank, a really good prank.' He said, putting his hands to the ultrasound like he was going to rip it up.

'Don't.' I said, jumping up to snatch it out of his hands, holding it to my chest and turning my back to him as I closed my eyes, nothing holding back the tears now. What was I going to do now?

'Wait... this isn't a prank, is it?' Xav said, slowly walking across the lino floor to stand behind me. 'You're being serious?'

'Yes, Xav, I am actually being serious for once. This isn't a lie to try and prank you; this is me being deadly serious. Yes, I am pregnant. Great, thanks.' I snapped, trying to walk past him and outside where I could preferably run away into the mountain into the little shelter I found about three miles north east from here and tell Joe to come find me before just heading back to England and never talking to them again. It seemed extreme but if Xav reacted like this, my other brothers would just flip their shit. However, Xav suddenly got his shit together - just grabbed my wrist, pulling me into a hug.

'Oh my God, Ella, I'm sorry. I am so happy for you. I just... I never expected it. I am not going to lie.' He whispered and I started to cry. 'No, don't cry, I don't know what to do with crying people and especially crying pregnant people who just happen to be my sister.' He joked but I continued to cry. He did something for my pulse and I started to calm down immediately.

'Pregnant people?' Crystal said, walking into the kitchen obviously wondering where all the coffees were and why we were taking so long. She looked so confused to see Xav hugging me and me, full on in tears. Both Xav and I looked at each other, confused what to do. Well, she was here now. May as well shoot two birds with one stone. Xav still had his arm around my shoulder, and I handed the ultrasound scan to her as I wiped away my tears.

'Really?' She shouted to the scan, looking in amusement and bewilderment.

'Shut up,' I hissed. I even noticed she checked the writing in the top corner to make sure it was actually my scan and wasn't one I copped off the internet.

'How's the coffee going – what is going on in here?' Joe came out, clearly finding it taxing sitting in with my parents alone and had offered to see why it was taking so long to make hot beverages. When he saw me cry he immediately came over to my side, hugging me to his chest as Xav went over to stand with Crystal, examining the ultrasound thoroughly.

'How'd it go?'

'Well, let's just say there will be a story to tell,' I whispered.

'Love birds; is this definitely not a prank... for sure?

'It's not a prank, we didn't believe it at first either, but it's not a prank.' Joe answered for me, resting his head against the top of mine.

'Congratulations!' Crystal ran over and hugged both of us, me laughing as Joe kind of stood there not too sure what to do. 'We'll talk about this more later when no one's around, okay?' I nodded, and both of them turned and walked back into the lounge leaving the scan on the side.

'Are you actually okay?'

'I thought Xav would hate me... he didn't seem overly happy. He was the one I thought would react the best...' I mumbled, turning into Joe's chest as he hugged me again.

'People just aren't expecting it. I mean, I had no idea what to say to Jake when I found out about the twins, it's tricky when its with people you care about. Also, it's Xav's first proper niece or nephew – he probably expected that type of announcement to come from Trace, where he had probably a fist bump or something lined up. I don't think anyone expected it from you,' Joe explained, hugging me.

'I'm scared.'

'Don't be, everything will work out in time.'

'So that's Zed, Sky, Crystal and Xav all done, we're getting there,' Joe ruffled my hair as I pretended to hit his hand away as I yawned. 'How are you still awake?' Joe whispered. Good enough question; he was practically falling asleep and that was with naps during the day. I was the one who stayed awake to keep an eye on things but I think it was just the pressure of the announcement causing my sleeplessness. No more today, though, I thought to myself. Yves and Phee had just called in saying they were a few miles away at a service station for a pee break but would be here in about ten to fifteen minutes, depending on traffic. They could wait until the morning. Currently at this rate, it would be them walking in, us greeting before heading straight off to bed. I don't know how much longer I can stay away for.

Fifteen minutes later we heard a car pull up in the drive and I tried to resurface from the half sleep I had laying on Joe's shoulder, his arm around me like normal but my feet up on the settee, resting on Xav's leg. He had attempted to tiggle my feet a few times but I got annoyed at him and I don't think he would elect to piss me off any more than he would need too at the moment, especially after he nearly cocked up when I told him about my pregnancy. I think since then he will be a little gentler with me, so he just left my feet on him.

'Did I fall asleep?' I muttered and Joe looked down at me, but the conversation between Zed, Sky and Karla and Saul continued unaware that I had resurfaced.

'I think so, you were kind of in between sleeping and being awake. You feel better for it?' He whispered to me and I nodded.

'Yves and Phee are outside,'

'Are they?'

'Didn't you hear the car pull up?' I frowned at him and he shook his head.

'You might have been projecting slightly,' Joe explained, and I shrugged. Probably.

'Ella, you up?' Mum said from across the room, obviously noticing Joe talking to someone but my voice was so quiet she mustn't have heard me. I stretched out slightly, automatically pulling down my shirt where it must have rose up slightly to expose the waistband on my leggings. Whilst it didn't reveal anything at all, it was still enough to make me slightly self conscious. Jeez, these will be a fun few months if I had body confidence issues when there was nothing there. Or was it just because I was hiding something this big from my parents? I stetched my legs out as Xav flicked my ankle gently.

'Yeah, I'm up,' I said.

'Good, we were just about to ask Joe how you two met,' Karla said, looking like she would get straight into the conversation of our loveydovey start. I looked up at Joe, widening my eyes in slight horror as Joe did the same thing looking down at me with the same face.

I've never been so thankful to hear a key in the door.

'We're back,' Yves called and I jumped up, jogging into the hallway and threw myself at him, hugging him tightly. Yves stood there shocked for a second as I just appeared and nearly knocked him over but he hugged me back.

'Hello to you too, El,' Yves said, hugging back. 'Why do you look like you were running away from a paternal grilling,' He whispered, rocking me backwards and forwards and I immediately felt closer to him. Because of the fact Yves was so busy with his technology stuff for Apple, earning more millions than he needs he was only able to stay in England for a few days and he had left before I had woken up. I didn't hold it against him, but it was hard. Yves and I were practically twins. Well, that was how the lie went. Despite him being two years younger, we were inseperable. There were countless times I wanted to tell Yves everything but I couldn't tell him I was pregnant across Skype. But now here we were and I clamped up again but the distance has evaporated and we were close once again.

'I was, I was running for the hills. You got in the way.' I whispered and he let go.

'You protected me from that grill, I'll do the same.' Yves said, walking into the lounge and I heard Mum and Dad talking about his fight, Yves distracting them from their probing question. I then turned to Phee, who stood fidgeting with her jacket in the doorway so I went and hugged her too.

'You alright, Phee? You look... scared,' I said, thinking about my own words. Why did she look so timid and nervous?

'I'm just scared for you,' She lied and I frowned. 'I'll tell you later, not now though.' She whispered and I nodded. I hoped she was okay. I followed into the lounge where everyone was talking about the crash that caused the road to be closed which is why only we are here. However, only ten or so minutes into our conversation I was already asleep in Joe's arms, so prepared for bed.


	63. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 62 - Ella

Chapter 62 – Ella

'I think it probably could have gone worse,' Joe whispered to me, his hand playing in my hair where I was laying on his arm. His other hand was running up and down my calf, and I was lying almost across him, my legs an arch over his legs. Both of us were confined to my old bedroom, as we were still very jetlagged and had woken up at half four in the morning. We didn't want to disturb anyone else in the house – especially as it was more than just my parents now – but we were both more than content laying around in bed in comfy clothes quietly talking to each other. It was so odd – when I was last in my bedroom before all of this had kicked off I thought I could not be comfy enough to have this type of relationship and now look at me. I was a walking contradiction.

'Probably could have, but I was catching all the distrustful looks you were getting.' I told Joe and he cringed. 'Just give them time, they'll be fine.'

'They really don't like me, do they?' He asked.

'They do, they're just slightly confused. Everyone knew how urh I was to the idea of meeting my Soulfinder – well, meeting you – and suddenly I waltz in engaged and displaying you like a trophy,' I whispered and he laughed slightly. 'They think you've done something to change me.'

'And I didn't?' He laughed breathily, kissing my neck.

'Yeah, but the parents don't know about that, yet.' I whispered back. Thankfully for us the roads in Denver getting down to this side of Colorado were blocked and closed and the normal hour and a half drive would have taken my brothers about seven hours to complete, so they didn't come over last night – thank God. This was why the party for Joe and I was postpone from the first night, last night, so we just had a sit down conversation over some coffee. The party had been moved to tonight. This at least gave us time to settle in slightly, and allowed Karla and Saul to get to know Joe a bit more. I was very, very thankful when Karla pulled me out of the room and told me how much she liked Joe and he was the perfect example of a young man. He grinned, putting his hand on my abdomen.

'Will they find out this trip?' He whispered.

'Er, debatable.'

'You have to tell them at some point,' He kissed my cheek and I blushed.

'I know I do, stop echoing my words. I'm getting there with all my brothers,'

'Ella, you've only told Zed and Xav. We said we'd go at our own paces but it might just be easier to tell everyone in a massive speech or whatever,' Joe said and I immediately shook my head.

'No, gush of emotions from everywhere I cannot do that,' I whispered and he put his hand on my thigh. I knew he knew how much I cannot deal with the gushes of emotion, but he was just scared for me and if I wasn't coping. I got that. 'I'll tell everyone before we go back.' I said.

'And I'll tell everyone when we get back.' Joe said but he just continued to grin at me as I frowned at him. Why was he so bloody happy at half five in the morning? 'Why are you grinning at me,' I whispered as he came forward and kissed me gently. 'Joe, what are you thinking?'

'It's twenty weeks,' He gently whispered and put his hand back on my abdomen. 'So now I can say we are having a girl and you can't tell me to wait until twenty weeks,' He laughed, kissing my jaw line. 'Half way there,'

'Jeez, that's a terrifying idea. But fine, we're having a girl then.' I grinned uncontrollably rolling over into his chest as he hugged me closer to him.

'Our little daughter,' he whispered and I had the notion he still couldn't quite get his head around the fact we were having a baby and he would be a Dad soon enough. We hugged like that for a while before there was a small knock on the door, and we both frowned at each other.

'Hello?' I said a bit louder and the door opened. Phee gently creeped into the bedroom, double checking to make sure both Joe and I were awake. She was in her pyjamas that we had brought when we were in England for our holiday – which Joe had just pointed out was twenty week ago – but something about her changed. The way she held herself looked very nervous and timid like she was holding a massive secret. The exact same way she was yesterday.

'You okay?' I whispered, frowning at her.

'I want to tell you something,' She whispered. 'Is there anywhere we can go this early?'

'We can go down to Costa? Are you okay though?' I asked, sitting up. I knew what she was like early in the morning – she most definitely wasn't a morning person – and the way she was acting was just weird. I knew as the brothers were staying over I could just dip into one of their minds and nick their gifts to find out what she was hiding but that wasn't fair on anyone.

'I'm okay I think,' she nodded to herself but hugged herself a bit tighter as well.

'Just five me about ten minutes to quickly get change, I'll meet you out the front,'

'Thanks,' Phee whispered, walking out again.

'I don't know her very well but something was on her mind, did you get that too?' Joe whispered and I nodded.

'Yeah, I hope she's okay.' I said, sitting bolt upright and taking my pyjama shirt off, quickly grabbing the stick of deodorant on my chest of draws, turning around to talk to Joe but saw his eyes focusing on something else that wasn't my face. I raised my eyebrow. 'Joe, eyes up please,' he said and he made the point of looking me dead in the eye from then as I put on a bra and a shirt from my draw. I then quickly changed my pyjama bottoms for a pair of jeans.

'She'll be fine,' I reassured myself as I walked towards the door.

'She'll be fine,' Joe repeated, kissing me gently on the lips. 'Good luck, hun. Text me if you need me,' He said, running his fingers through my hair.

Five minutes later, I left the front door closing it very quietly and slowly behind me, knowing that Cotton would be asleep on the settee – or rather my throw cross blanket that was always laid out for her. If she heard someone out this early, she would demand a walk. I had just managed to close the door when I felt Phee come up beside me.

'Just promise me it's nothing life threatening,' was all I whispered to her as I walked towards Joe and my rented car that was parked on the outskirts of the driveway, so I could drive away with all of the brothers cars.

'No, no, it's nothing like that,' Phee hit my arm laughing slightly. 'Do you and Joe always sleep like you're playing twister?'

I unlocked the car and got into the driver's seat, automatically putting my belt on before starting the engine and putting it into first gear.

'We've been awake since half four,' I yawned, starting to drive down the road leading towards the town where the Costa Coffee sat. 'You were right, you know,' I simply said.

'About what?'

'I should have given it a chance with Joe but I was a twat,'

'You did give it a chance with Joe, but a bit later than everyone thought you would.' Phee reassured me and I shrugged. I guessed she was right.

'I kinda have something to tell you too,' I said after a few minutes silence when I indicated into the car park outside Costa which was of course deserted. No one was up at driving around at not even six in the morning. 'Over coffee, though?'

'Of course,' She joked, getting out the car.

I walked into the coffee shop, immediately sighing and regretting coming here. Jeez, should have thought before I suggested going here. Putting two and two together I realised exactly who was behind the counter. Of course, the boy in the town who had probably the biggest crush on me for over a year and a half – Luke.

Luke was in the year above at school, making him nineteen which he thought was the same age at me even though I was twenty one. Ever since he's left High School he's been stuck with the long morning shifts in Costa and his only regular customer was me when I used to go on 15-20km runs every morning and wanted a hot chocolate and a talk. I suppose people would say I was leading him on but I was completely unaware that he liked me, always thinking I was unlikeable I had naively assumed that he just wanted a chat to someone in the morning.

'Ella, where have you been for the last month?' Luke exclaimed, already frothing the milk for my large hot chocolate.

'I've just been in England, i'm back for a few weeks,' I explained, leaning on the counter slightly. 'Can I also get a white coffee for Phee, please?'

'Of course, my girl, anything for you. I was starting to think you had left America for good.' Luke said, playing with the machines in the back as I rolled my eyes at Phee who had to suppress a grin.

'Well, I am kind of leaving America. I've got a new flat in England but I'll be coming back every now and again to visit the family, obviously.'

'You break my heart, Ella, you really do.' He joked, pushing the two coffee cups towards me. 'You'll be back soon, though?'

'Probably later, yeah,' I said, picking up the coffee cups and walk towards the booth in the corner. Thankfully for us a bunch of tired business men walked in for their dose of caffeine. 'See you then,' I noticed Luke's gaze fell to the engagement ring on my finger and even I saw his face drop.

'Yeah, of course,' he whispered and even I could hear how upset he was. I shuffled over to the corner table so my back was against the window so I could keep an eye on the shop as Phee sat opposite me, taking her coffee.

'You're hiding something as well?' Phee laughed, gesturing for me to go on.

'No it doesn't work like this,' I laughed.

'Should we say it together?' Phee suggested.

'Yeah, alright. Ready?' and she nodded but she was shaking. I quickly put my hand over her hand as she breathed shakily. 'Whatever you tell me won't change what I think of you, okay? As long as you promise the same back,'

'Of course,' Phee whispered, and I rubbed her fingers to calm her down.

'Come on then, three, two, one.'

Both of us breathed in before we both said the exact same words at the exact same time. 'I'm pregnant.' As we looked at each other in slight horror sight amusement.

'Oh,' was all I could say. 'I only expected that to be a one way thing,'

'Yeah, definitely was not expecting that.' Phee replied but leaned forward slightly, grinning the entire time. I guess our gossip time was about to get a lot more interesting and hopefully not too graphic.

'How far along are you?' I asked her, leaning in a bit more as I noticed Luke kept peering over to the table, grinning the entire time. Can't he take a hint?

'Only a few weeks, four at the very most. Yves didn't want me to tell anyone before the first scan and then the twelve week check up scan because of, you know, the risks of complication,' Phee explained and I nodded. Oh, what I would do to be able to use those excuses again. Now I just had to tell people I was a wuss for not doing it sooner. 'So not far at all. You can't be much further; you and Joe have only been together for just over two months, is it?'

'We move pretty quickly,' I laughed slightly as she took a sip of coffee, nodding her head to one side as if to suggest she noticed.

'How to say this so elegantly?' I wondered to myself out loud. 'Yeah, baby was a mistake. Well, not a mistake. Surprise. We didn't just go "Hey you know what's a good result for a bomb slash death threat? Pregnancy," it was a surprise.' I explained. 'Was yours planned?'

'Yeah, of course.' Phee said and I nodded back. 'How did everything that happened to you happen? You were on the pill and the implant? How did you even find out? You never told me how far along you are!' Phee protested, coming to sit around my side of the booth so we could talk a bit quieter. God, it's weird thinking we would both be parents within the New Year.

'Okay, no one can know yet because they will be unbearable, so it's all hush hush for now. Right, question time. Well, you know that engagement party...' I started and Phee's mouth dropped.

'No!' She exclaimed and I slapped her hand for not being quiet.

'I didn't exactly come home for the night, did I?'

'Ella! That was months ago, you said nothing happened!'

'And I woke up next to Joe... yeah I'm twenty weeks gone.' I said biting my lip so hard I swear I could taste the putrid iron taste of my own blood. Phee ran her hand through her pixie styled hair, the once split ends but now beautiful flowing soft locks of dark brown (McBlondie over here wasn't jealous at all. I was stuck with dead ends, dead hair, and frizzy hair with no volume. Totally 100% not jealous... ha,) before ruffling it back into place. We were both messes, hair only getting a brief brush before I tied mine up and Phee's just kind of sat where it did but still looked good. Urh – I hate my sister in law sometimes.

'Twenty weeks!'

'Yeah, twenty. It's a girl, if you're wondering,' I whispered and I swear her jaw couldn't drop any lower but hey, sister in law proving some things today.

'Oh my God! Congratulations Ella! But you didn't tell me the rest. I want full story details, please. I mean, we have about three hours until everyone starts wondering where we are and my coffee seems pretty full,' She laughed, kicking her legs up onto the leather booth, sitting so she was facing me but her back was against the side of the seat. I mimicked her, our legs entwining slightly with our knees in a straight line so we could talk. The amount of times we had done this when Phee first came over here from London. Of course, it looked relatively normal for everyone who believed my childhood lie – of course I'd get on well with my twin's wife. Phee and I became really good friends when Yves first found her, and I even found myself in gun lines and deeply entangled in deadly lies to make sure she was absolutely fine when Yves couldn't be there for her. Hence the really interesting story of me pretending to be her "Step brothers" girlfriend. However, her step brother wasn't even related to her in any way shape or form, and Unicorn turned out to be the biggest wanker known to man. But I nicked Vick's gift without him noticing, convince the entire community apart from Phee that we were lovers for years, and followed Phee around like a lost sheep. Even at Tate, when Yves came to pick her up I hovered back out of his view – he believed I was with Michael the entire time – just to protect her and of course my brother. She was so thankful for it, and ever since then we've become inseparable.

'Yeah, I was on the pill and the implant. But the implant is requiring for Maui, and I can't really stop that and the pill is for the FBI. I stupidly stopped taking it the night after we landed in England which gives about a 30 hour period of no protection. Of course, the night of the party was in that time. I didn't know that the implant was never working and was actually faulty and broken when it was put in. Also, the doctor said something about the FBI nurse not working out the correct hormone level and giving me one that left one hormone too high and the other too low, which simulates ovulation. However, when i was on the pill it was too high on everything so nothing could happen. It was when I stopped taking it the issues would begin. Thus, I got pregnant. But I never really had any side effects and if it did it just corresponded with other things. Like my lack of appetite the same time I got a cold, or morning sickness when I was stressed. Nothing really changed. Fast forward a while, we were in Cornwall and he somehow convinced me we could work it out. He was so nice and gentle when he was down there and whenever I had a bad dream he would stay with me and never take advantage. Even though I did something stupid and was basically gunna run of in the middle of the night. He found out and flipped his shit but then I just got these terrible period pains. Like period pains but worse so he calmed me down and made me go to sleep. However, when we went to leave the house – this was when they were coming to kill us remember – I was just covered from waist down in my own blood. Bless him, he bathed me and got me dressed and carried me to the car and drove me to the hospital and waited for four hours by himself freaking out. They of course did a pregnancy test and found out, they told him and he was absolutely over the moon when I was convinced the nurses were sucking my blood and was desperately trying to escape,' I rambled and Phee carried to look on intently, like I was the best story teller of the year and I should write it down to get New York Best Seller or something. I frowned at her, but continued the rest of my story.

'I was certain it was the end of the world and he would just panic, flip his shit and leave but he didn't. He promised me he would stay and the choice trio – adopt, abort or keep – was completely up to me and he would be there for me any choice and through anything that happened. I said we couldn't really plan for a baby when we had to try and work out this bomb threat independently using only our gifts as a lead but it was so evident he wanted to be a Dad. I always wanted my own kid even though I never told anyone and even though this happened years before anyone expected it I never, ever wanted to get rid of the baby. So here we are. We're already planning everything out to incorporate the little one. Even the new house has the perfect room for a nursery for her,' I shrugged and Phee bounced forwards, hugging me intently.

'I can't believe it,' she just whispered, 'We're going to be parents,'

'That's a terrifying prospect.' I laughed. 'So what's your story?'

'Nothing that good. I decided college was never for me and I could do a lot more work in the Net – Maui have been in contact and want me to do work for their new base in California which is where Yves is to start with so I couldn't really argue. We were discussing having a family as everything seemed to be working out fine. Yves can study and still get paid. I would be with Maui and work with you a lot more and Yves knew you'd help me out and protect me and whatever and the timing seemed perfect. We both just agreed to see what would happen and guess what – it happened,' Phee laughed, sipping her coffee.

'Jeez, congrats to you both.'

'Right back at you,'

'Seem's surreal.' I said, taking a gulp of my hot chocolate. 'Something in a book.'

'At least they would both have cousins their age.' Phee said and I grinned, nodding.

'You're really not wrong,'

'Although, Yves said he wanted to tell you later so just act really surprised. He wanted to be the one to tell you because he thought it would be the first baby in the family.'

'Oh shit,' I whispered, laughing. This could be interesting.


	64. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 63 - Joe

Chapter 63 – Joe

It had just turned half seven in the morning, and the house was still dead. Ella and Phee had both been out at Costa for an hour and a half now leaving me alone in this house of my future in laws who I was fairly convinced didn't like me. Ella pointed out before she left it was more her fault they seemed uneasy with me because they all knew how resistant she was to the idea of meeting me out of her imagined fear of ruining me. However, thankfully for us, Zed , Xav and Crystal all took the news of the baby amazingly well. In fact, we had even woken up to a card slid under the bedroom door from Xav and Crystal. It was quite a simple card; white with a delicate printed silver boarder with a stalk carrying a cream coloured blanket. "Congratulations" was above the stalk in cursive golden writing. Inside, the card was marked out to both Ella and myself – something I didn't think they would be doing so soon, and it said congratulations once again, further apologising for Xav's quite crappy reception (well, the way Ella phrased it seemed a crappy first response) and was signed off by both of them. Underneath said "We had this tucked away just in case of Diamond – but you beat her too it!". I think her family might be okay with me – eventually.

I rolled over and grabbed my iPhone from her beside cabinet and looked – sure enough, no signal so no texts. Not that that really bothered me. However, I quickly checked Facebook. I wasn't a social media junkie –it never appealed to me. Maybe once a week I would log on and see what had been happening, maybe even reply to a few messages but that's it. My profile remained dead as ever. Last time I actively used it was probably five years, and even my profile picture was of the leavers do in Year 11. Hell yeah, I was that outdated. The second my feed loaded up, I saw I had sixteen unread inboxes from various people and opened up the tab.

Out of the sixteen, eleven were girls who I used to know conveniently checking up on me and seeing if I was still single. The comment that made my stomach churn the most was from a busty brunette called Nicole. She constantly hung around by my side for months trying to get my attention but she was just so fake that I never even looked twice. I mean, who wears short shorts a bralet to a charity event promoting safe driving?

"Hey Joe, sexy," The message read and I pulled a face. I didn't think three words could make me want to throw up any more than those did. Ella could probably pull off saying it, but Nicole couldn't. "I haven't seen you in a while," I wonder why. "Well, actually I saw you walking around the supermarket with a little girl – is she your cousin or brothers girlfriend?" I frowned – the only person I've been shopping with was Ella, and Nicole's comment sparked anger. "Talking of girlfriends, you still single? We should meet up and go for a drink. See you then, sexy."

I never realised how much I wanted to punch someone and vomit at the same time.

"Hey Nicole, sorry for the somewhat tardy reply, I have been busy over the last few months. I'm also afraid I have to decline your drink as the person you saw me shopping with was my girlfriend. Well, now fiancé. I am perfectly happy with her and we're even thinking about starting a family." I sent and felt a pang of guilt but got too caught up with my anger to think about my response. Really shouldn't have told her we were thinking about starting a family.

By the time I had replied to all the other messages, Nicole had already come back online and replied to my some what bitter message.

"What do you mean you're engaged. You're like twenty, you're pissing your life away," she replied and I rolled my eyes.

"Firstly, 21. And no, I'm not pissing my life away. I love Ella to pieces and honestly, it doesn't even concern you in the slightest."

"Who is this slut?"

"Don't ever call her a slut and don't even bother contacting me again." I replied, shutting down the app which corresponded with the front door closing. I waited, intently listening. I could hear Ella's laughter mixed in with Phee's before they both went quiet to walk up the first flight of stairs. Ella said something gently, so gently I couldn't hear what she said just the slight hint of her voice in the otherwise still cabin, as another door closed and I heard more footsteps running up the stairs.

Ella gently pushed the door open, stepping in before closing it quietly. She then turned around and looked at me, smiling softly.

'Thought you might have been asleep,' She whispered, climbing over me to get back into bed.

'With you gone? Not a chance,' I whispered back. 'Everything okay?'

'Yeah,' She whispered, grinning.

'What was it? You seem happy – tell me.'

'Okay, so we were in Costa with our free coffee's and I thought I would tell Phee about the baby so we agreed to tell each other at the same time what was wrong, and then both of us almost in tune, singing along melancholicly, both announced we were pregnant.'

'Oh shit,' I laughed, brushing the stray stands of hair that had fallen out of her pony tail out of her hair. 'Didn't see that coming,'

'You're telling me. Yves thinks it's going to be the first baby in the family,' Ella pulled a slightly guilty face.

'How far along is she?'

'About four weeks,'

'Ah. Maybe not the first baby in the family,' I whispered as my phone vibrated. I rolled my eyes, knowing who it would be. Ella just frowned at my slightly odd reply, 'You going to tell Yves?'

'You going to answer your phone?'

'It's just... someone.'

'Let me guess, that Nicole person?' Ella laughed when my jaw dropped. 'Thought so,'

'How did you know?'

'Oh, she messaged me last night asking how I knew you and why we had photos together.' Ella said and I felt immediately pissed off. Why was Nicole being such a bitch, was she determined to try and break us up? My phone starting ringing and I frowned, rolling over to double check but hesitating before picking it up, 'Just do it, and tell her I told her to fuck herself,' Ella said, rolling away from me slightly as I picked up my phone. Weirdly enough, it wasn't Nicole but Jason. I slid across, answering it.

'You do realise I'm in Colorado, right?' Was the first thing I said to him and Ella looked over at me.

'Yeah,' Jason said as I put him on speaker phone. 'Something weird is happening. Is Ella there?'

'We're both here – what's up?'

'Ella, how long does it take to heal a broken wrist?' Jason asked her and she frowned at the question.

'About six to eight weeks,' Ella commented back and Jason sighed slightly.

'Interesting,' He said.

'Why interesting?' Ella said.

'I broke my wrist and it's healed within two days. Odd.' Jason said and Ella and I looked at each other in some sort of horror, amusement and puzzlement. What had he just said? What did he just suggest, more like? I continued to look confused as Ella realised what he meant and went to probe him.

'Jason - what do you mean you healed your wrist in two days?' Ella asked.

'Hang on, wait, shit, lack of signal. There appears to be an ocean between us – crap when did that get there? Oh no, sorry, have to go,' Jason pretended to have bad signal before hanging up leaving Ella and myself completely bemused.

'Still going to say he's not a Savant?'

'He can't be, Ella, I've checked so many times.' I whispered to my girl, who was semi-sitting up resting on one elbow. I ran my hand up and down her side and the dip where her waist goes in before coming back out again. 'He just can't – his Mum isn't. She's so against the idea of ESP it's amazing, there's nothing there for him to inherit.'

'What about his Dad?' She asked, and I screw my nose up.

'He never knew his Dad.'

'There we go then, his Dad was probably a Savant, knocked his Mum up with him, ran off and Jason would have no idea that these people even existed until you told him they do,' Ella explained, her hand resting on my chest.

'It can't be,' I protested and Ella laid down back on my chest as I put my arm around her shoulders. 'Fine,' I said even though Ella didn't say anything, I didn't pick her thoughts up but I knew what she wanted me to do. She wanted me to talk to Jason about it the second we got back. I noticed Ella smiling into my chest and I sighed. 'I don't think he is, but I'll talk to him when we get back,'

'Thank you,' She whispered, running her fingers over my chest causing goosebumps. I noticed her hand running down a bit further each time, and I quickly caught her hand, pushing it down on my lower abdomen before we had time to develop anything any further. She frowned looking up at me.

'Why not?' She asked and I gave her a slight look.

'Er, half of your brothers are home and people are waking up, behave yourself girl.' I laughed, rubbing her back as she angrily groaned, her head flopping back on my chest.

'They'll be asleep for long enough,' she mumbled.

'Jeez, these hormones are getting to you,' I laughed.

A few minutes of hugging Ella to my side later there was a small knock at the door. I frowned at the door as Ella mumbled something about them coming in as the door pushed open. Yves came into the room slightly, hovering in the door.

'You alright?' Ella asked to him as he pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. I didn't know her brothers too well, and I was on my best behaviour and not using my gift at all but it was clear he was on edge.

'Are you free?' He asked timidly.

'Yeah, of course. What's up?' Ella asked her brother and both of them shifted slightly uncomfortably as I smiled slightly. No wonder people thought they were twins. Even though they looked nothing alike they both have the same timid mannerisms.

'I just need you to read through the programming on the Soulfinder matching programme I've been working on, there's a few bugs that I can't iron out and I know you're good at coding,' Yves said and Ella nodded, sitting up on the bed and rubbing her eyes again as I pulled up her shirt where she had slightly pulled it down. Yves left the room to pick up his laptop. I turned over and grinned at Ella.

'Bet you're happy we didn't, now,' I laughed and she rolled her eyes.

'Later,' Ella mumbled, crawling out of bed.

'Maybe,' I replied as she sat on the edge of the bed, sucking her teeth slightly. I knew that, as it was around twenty weeks, it would be the hormones making Ella like this and I remembered what Jake was saying when Leannah was around twenty weeks too. We had gone to the small cafe near Mum and Dad's work when Leannah was working and he was telling me everything. Some things were probably a bit too much to know but we were close as brothers and he warned me about the four month rule. As seen and explained by Phoebe in friends, the majority of the hormones start to kick in making the mum-to-be very, how to put this delicately, _up for it._ And as Jake also delicately put it; you have to be for it as much as they are but you just have to be sensible some times. Brothers for you. However, I could totally see where he was coming from now and owe him an apology for calling him a dick when we get back. I got out of bed as well, quickly putting on a pair of shorts to make it look like I wore more to bed than I actually did beside sitting next to her.

'I don't like being pregnant,' She whispered, leaning against me as I put my arm around her shoulders.

'It'll be worth it,' I whispered.

'But feel!' Ella whispered, dragging out the words as she grabbed my hand and put it against her stomach, and sure enough the baby was moving. Not kicking, but definitely moving none the less. I could only assume it meant the baby was starting to drop. I grinned at her before kissing her cheek. 'It'll be worth it though,' She whispered in agreement. 'Sorry,'

'Why you apologising?'

'I thought you were annoyed at me,'

'Of course I'm not, we just need to be careful when we –'

'Careful didn't get us into this situation,' Ella whispered and I laughed holding her hand gently, nipping her finger, kissing the palm of her hand and going up her arm. 'Dude, that's so not fair,' she breathily laughed.

'Sorry,' I whispered, kissing her neck.

'You can't say no and then tease me,'

'Why not?' I joked back, running my hand up and down her shirt, at one stage lifting her shirt up to run my fingers up her bare skin. She let out an involuntary moan as I carried on, kissing her collarbone. 'How long will your brother be?' I whispered to her and she just shrugged.

'Long enough,' She whispered as she closed the door telekinetically as I pushed her down. Unfortunately for us, there was a knock on the door again and Ella rolled her eyes.

'Why?' She groaned, sitting up again as I pulled a pillow over my lap.

'Yves?' She asked and he walked in again holding his laptop completely unaware anything had happened. 'You took a bit too long,' Yeah a bit too long and we were going to take advantage of everything

'Sorry, I was just making sure Phee was asleep,' He whispered, ruffling his unkempt hair as he probably just woke up.

'Why does she have to be asleep? What have you done she won't approve of?' Ella asked, crawling out of bed when I thought of my great Nan, trying to calm myself down.

'Nothing,' Yves said and even I didn't believe him. I watched him pull out of his laptop, unlocking it with a four didgit pin before pulling up the programming screen – white with loads of black numbers on it really small.

'Sure, you can program for all eventualities but you can't make a font button. Can you chuck me my glasses?' Ella asked and I frowned as Yves went into the second draw of her desk, and pulled out a pair of glasses. Black thick frames and Ella put them on, frowning at the screen.

'Since when do you wear glasses?' I asked her, never seeing her in glasses. She never had even mentioned it. Ella turned around in the chair smiling. God, she looks so cute with the glasses on.

'I'm meant to wear glasses but I don't. Only when it comes to stupidly small reading like this. I'm fine without them,' Ella said and Yves frowned at her.

'Not what the opticians said,'

'I'm fine driving and reading without them, I can still see everything fine shut up,' Ella laughed, hitting him in the ribs as she turned back around to read the scripting.

'Well, I actually wanted to tell you something. Phee and I said we weren't going to tell anyone until later but I wanted to tell you before because I want too – before anyone else.' Yves started to confess to Ella as she looked up at him frowning. I widened my eyes slightly, knowing the beginning of the speech.

'Phee's pregnant.' Ella simply said.

'No – shes... wait how did you know that?' Yves said and both Ella and I pulled the same face of concern. 'Did you both know?'

'Er, she took me out to coffee earlier and told me,' Ella whispered, getting her "twin" brother to stop giving me the death look. Now I can see why people though they were twins – the exact same mannerisms.

'She told you even when we said we wouldn't?' He sounded very angry.

'Yeah, but so did you.' Ella pointed out and he realised it was true and calmed down slightly. 'Look, she was just concerned that her family would change how they view her because she was pregnant. She was scared to tell people in case she would lose to people she loved and trust the most. She isn't to know how people will react - you can't blame her for being scared,' Ella whispered and I jumped out of bed and put my arm around her shoulders knowing exactly what she was doing. She was saying her fears out loud.

'How do you know that, she's only been here for twelve hours, if that.' Yves said, sitting down on the desk but leaning forward to put his hand on hers as she had started to shake as she held back her tears. I kissed the top of her head.

'I'm pregnant too,' She whispered.

'What?' Yves whispered back as Ella cringed back slightly into the chest, shrugging slightly. 'Seriously?'

Ella for some unknown reason started crying, standing up to fall into my chest as I stood up with her, wrapping my arms around her waist trying to comfort her as I nodded to Yves, who just stood awkwardly. He came over, putting his hand on her shoulder.

'Congrats, Ella,' He whispered but even though I wasn't looking at him, I could tell how happy he was through his tone. Ella looked up slightly, frowning at him before hugging him as well, but keeping a firm hold of my hand. 'Why are you crying, are you okay? Is everything okay? You can tell me Ella,' Yves whispered even though I could clearly hear it – that and the joint death look he gave me. Why did everyone thing I was hurting Ella? I would never do anything to hurt her. Seeing her upset and this emotional, even though the rational part knew it was just the bucket loads of pregnancy hormones, I wanted to do everything I could to make sure she was happy. The midwife had told me that because of her weight, height and the sudden announcement of the pregnancy chances are the pregnancy hormones would be kicking in a bit later and could mean the effect would be greater for a period of time until she learnt how to cope with them. But until then, she would be the most emotional (and sexual) human known to man. Ella eventually broke away from the hug with her brother and came back over to me, where my hand was placed against her lower back.

'Was the baby planned?' Yves asked, sitting down on the chair as Ella and I remained standing, hugging each other.

'Er, no, anything but,' Ella joked as I kissed her forehead. Eventually, Ella put her hand in my back pocket.

'How far along are you? Can't be too long, you've only been back for a few weeks –'

'Well, as of this morning about twenty weeks,' I said and saw his face light up. I grinned as Ella looked up at me, going on tiptoes to kiss my cheek. I telekinetically moved the ultrasound wallet from the top drawer of the bedside cabinet into his hand. Yves opened it with delicate hands and grinned as he looked at his future niece.

'It's a girl,' Ella whispered.

'Oh my God, congrats you two!' Yves jumped up and hugged us both as Ella laughed slightly.

'You too! Phee told me everything, I'm so happy for you two, too!'

 _I think everyone will be okay with this, you know._ Ella gently told me telepathically and I nodded against her head.

 _Everything will be fine, I told you. It'll work out._

 _I should have trusted you._ Ella guilty told me and I rubbed her back cutting off that thought and guilt by rubbing her back. I gently dipped into her mind and cut off the guilt she was developing before it had time to settle down.

 _It's fine, just blame the hormones._ I joked, kissing her temple.


	65. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 64 - Ella

**Chapter 64 – Ella**

 _Seven days later._

I climbed into the passenger seat of the family Jeep, watching Saul climb into the driver's seat, keep looking over in my direction waiting for me to protest and demand to drive. But sure enough, I done the buckle up on my seat, and crossed my legs over each other in the car, preparing for him to drive off. Saul put the key in the engine – looking at me – put his foot down on the clutch - look at me – put the car into first and looking again.

'You can drive off, I'm not going to freak,' I laughed as Saul finally started to put the car into action.

'How has Joseph manage to calm you down this much,' He laughed to himself, wrinkle's suddenly exposing themselves as he screamed of fatherly affection at me.

'It's just Joe, much like it's just Ella, and I have no idea.' I smiled out the window, just wishing Joe was here with me at the moment. Instead, he had gone into town with all my brothers apart from Vick and Trace, who had to go back to Denver for some overtime work on some serious case. However, it meant they would miss out on the baby announcement. Neither of them two had any idea I was pregnant as I had been working slowly around my brothers, planning on telling Vick and Trace today but they had to go back. I understood, and so did Joe, as we would have to do the same thing if something happened in England. It just meant we would leave a few hours earlier to drop by in Denver to tell them two before we jumped back on the plane home. Everyone had been told – Uriel and Will had taken the news really well even though Will had words with Joe about what would happen if he mistreated me or mistreated the baby. Diamond had also responded amazingly well and had told me that herself and Trace were thinking about starting their own family.

'I'm so happy for both of you. You have grown up a lot through the whole experience,' Dad said and I nodded. Well, he wasn't wrong.

'Er, I kind of have been hiding something from you, Dad.' I confessed up, looking over my shoulder to make sure Karla hadn't followed us both to the Water School. We had said we'd go down midday to sort out chlorine levels and so I can go for a swim, like old times. I had a secret agenda, though.

'What's that, Eleanor? Are you okay?' Saul asked, indicating to go down the dirt path to the water school.

'You know we always joked about Diamond having the first grandchild? Well, er, I know who's managed to beat her,' I laughed slightly.

'Don't tell me Sky's pregnant,' He laughed, putting his hand on my leg and I grinned. I waited until he pulled up in the car park space dedicated for the family cars and he killed the engines. We went to open the door.

'Wait a second,' I asked and he stayed for a second in the car. I put my hand in my kangaroo pocket of my hooded jumper and pulled out the scan, its once white pocket slightly marred after the amount of use the week has brought. He frowned as I handed it to him. I watched intently, trying to steady my breathing and tears as he opened it.

'I might have beaten Sky, too.' I whispered as he looked at the scan.

'Are you joking?' He whispered, tears thick in his voice. One night when stress got to us both about half a year ago, he told me he wanted grandchildren. All of his kids, and me, were long past bed time stories and long cuddles and making cakes together but he still wanted to do those things. He had told me he though Diamond would be the first one in the family – I was never even in the betting list.

'No,' I whispered, smiling slightly as his face lit up like the sky.

'What – how far?'

'About twenty, well, about twenty one weeks now,' I muttered and he just looked shocked at me. 'I wasn't exactly behaving when we went on the girl's holiday away and I met Joe for the first time,' I awkwardly laughed as Saul gave me _the look._

'Congratulations, Ella, this means the world to us. Have you told your Mom yet?' He said, hugging me to one side but still looking at the scan like it was the answer to his life long questions.

'Er, no. I've chickened out so far.' I confessed up and he gave me a weird look. 'I know there is no need to wimp out but I'm scared to what you'd both say,' I rubbed my arms.

'What did you think we'd say?' Saul coaxed and I knew the technique. Dad never used to tell us what to do and let us work out our own paths, and rather than hiding he encouraged us to open up.

'I thought you'd be disappointed in me for not, you know, being safe even though I was, I was on the implant and it broke so I thought I was safe, or you'd be pissed because we didn't wait until we were married or settle down and you'd just disown me and never speak to me again. Or you'd just forget you ever adopted me because we're living in England. I know it's stupid but I was just scared.' I whispered, starting to cry again. Dad quickly put his arm around my shoulder calming me down.

'Ella, you know that's irrational, don't you?' Saul asked gently and I nodded. 'We won't ever be disappointed of you or your moves, we know you're more than capable of making the right choices and you and Joe will be brilliant parents, even if you have only just settled down and you're engaged. And we won't ever forget every moment you've given us since you were four. Even if you do move over there for good we will still expect calls and pictures and messages and we'd like you to come over for holidays or birthdays, we won't just leave you like you never existed,' Saul explained, hugging me as I cried.

'Do you know the gender?' Saul asked after he hugged me enough that I calmed down.

'Joe says it's a girl,' I whispered.

'I'm going to have a granddaughter,' Saul said happily and even though I couldn't see his face I knew he was smiling and suddenly it felt like there was a massive weight lifted from my chest. Sure, I still had to tell Karla but Saul always had the meditating calming effect on me and I knew that if he thought everything would be okay that even if Karla didn't have a good reaction, Dad would be on my side and calm her down and see the sense.

'I'm going to have a daughter,' I mumbled before crying again.

Throughout the day, Saul kept telling me to take it easy and not to lift anything heavy and even offered to carry my backpack for me despite my protests. We had done everything we needed too though, and it was still morning. Joe kept checking up on me telepathically just in case anything would happen and he would need me but it seemed like he was enjoying himself. However, Dad had persuaded me to tell Karla.

'It'll be fine, I'll be in the other room if you need me,' Saul whispered and I nodded. 'It'll be fine Eleanor.' I nodded again as we stood by the front door of the house. No other cars were parked, so I knew it was just Karla in the house.

'We're back,' Saul called as we walked into the house and I followed increasingly anxious. I really really didn't want to do this. Saul smiled at me, handing my back pushing me into kitchen where Karla was. I took a few deep breaths before walking into the kitchen attempting to stream brave and confident and not a wuss.

'Ella! I've been meaning to talk to you alone for a while now, is Joe not with you?' She asked, already making me a hot chocolate.

'No, he's with the boys – what's up?' I asked jumping up on the counter so she couldn't see me shaking.

'When have you booked the wedding venue for?' Karla asked, tutting as I swung my legs up on her counter.

'We haven't booked a wedding venue yet,' I whispered. Oh no.

'Have you started looking?' Karla asked standing near me.

'We haven't really had time,' I confessed.

'This should be at the front of your mind, Eleanor, this takes priority at the moment,' Karla said, leaning on the counter. I sucked my lips.

'At the moment it's not a priority. Look, I have something to tell you.' I said and Karla shot me a slightly dirty look. Clearly someone was trying to get me hitched. To be fair, Trace got married to Diamond within a few weeks, and Yves to Phee within 36 hours. I was slacking if we followed their record.

'What is more important than your wedding?' Karla said coming up to me, touching my knee.

'I'm pregnant,' I whispered down looking down at my hands.

'You're what? But you're not married,' Karla whispered.

'Yup, I know that.' I snapped back before trying to breathe slowly. The room was silent with the atmosphere tense. It must have gone on for a minute. 'Please say something,'

'Is this a prank?' Karla asked and I shook my head. Realising the ultrasound was still in my pocket, I quickly grabbed in, pulling it out and opening it before looking at the scan finding the natural sense of calm that seeing the scan normally does. I slowly handed it to Karla, who looked at the scan as well.

'We're home,' Xav called as the door closed again. I heard loads of bags dropped in the hallway and blurry shadows walked towards the closed glass kitchen door. Xav opened it, coming in with Uriel and Will behind him. All of them senses the tense atmosphere, and hesitated slightly. Joe followed them and came straight over to me where he could see I was on edge and he held my hand. He frowned at me.

'This is real?' Karla asked and both Joe and I looked over as I nodded. 'I'm going to be a grandma?'

'Yup, that's kinda what that means.' I said, and Karla gave me a sideways look as Joe gently rubbed my hand to get me to unclench my fist .

'Are you being serious? You're not even married yet!'

'You've mentioned that for the third time – was it third time?' I practically snapped back but calmed myself down.

'Karla, she told me a few hours ago. She's not joking, this is real.' Saul said coming out into the kitchen, everyone who was home following him. In the kitchen now was everyone apart from Trace, Diamond and Victor and near enough everyone has their eyes on me. I caught Phee's eyes, and she looked panicked as she would have to do the same thing in about seven weeks time.

'She's only been with Joe for a few weeks,' Karla protested and I bit back the tears, knowing I had to get out of here before I started having a break down. I looked at the kitchen door leading to the back garden and the woods on the Rockies and I knew where I had to go.

'Well, it's nice to know where you stand,' I whispered, jumping off the counter. 'I'll be off for a while,' I muttered, walking straight out the door despite hearing the protests of Joe, Saul and a few others all mixed into one.

* * *

Hello! I've started writing the extended prequal to this, Deluding Ella, which follows Ella meeting Sky, Crystal and Phoenix and before the trip to Cornwall - it's being uploaded on Fanfiction and here's the link if you're interested; s/11731117/1/Deluding-Ella

Thanks for reading! :)


	66. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 65 - Joe

**Chapter 65 – Joe**

'Ella, hang on,' I tried to stop her by grabbing her wrist but missed her slightly as she stormed off through the side kitchen door. I had to watch her walk straight out of the gate in the garden, crossing her arm as the wooden gate smashed shut again. All her brothers bar two, her parents, Sky, Crystal and Phee all stood in the kitchen awkwardly.

'Is she being serious?' Karla asked, confused. I frowned slightly, dipping into her mind and just saw that she didn't understand or comprehend that her daughter was pregnant. It wasn't meant to be menacing, or even cruel or mocking like it may have seemed, she was just completely shocked. She was amazed that she could be so far along when we were only together for a month or two.

'Yeah, she is. I'll – er – I'll go and get her,' I said, jumping off the counter where I had hovered to hold Ella's hand. I walked through the kitchen to the door, opening it as I heard the murmuring behind me.

'What have I done?' Karla whispered as the door closed behind me. I quickly walked to the gate, the mountain looking stunning but I had no idea where to find Ella on the side of the mountain. Leaning forward I pulled the gate opened, walking through and letting the gate shut behind me. I had barely turned around again to view the mountain before Ella came straight over to hug me, her hands wrapping around my waist as I put my arm around her waist. Before I could say anything, Ella broke down crying into my chest.

'Ella, come here baby, calm down,' I whispered pulling her tight. 'It's not what it seems,' I said and she broke the hug off and started to run into the mountain. 'Ella!' I called, running up the mountain following her. The mountain was steep (duh) but looked absolutely beautiful. The canapé of green leaves on the aspen and oaks that soared into the sky, the ground littered with tiny spots of sunlight where it can get through the leaves. Ella kept running through the mountains, skilfully dodging pot holes and fallen branches with the skill that one would gain if they've done this for years. I copied her footing, not wanting to fall and loose her in the mountain.

Eventually she stopped suddenly in a clearing, sitting down on a fallen tree which was half rotted. I quickly spun around in the clearing, amazed at how beautiful and secluded it was.

'Ella, really, she didn't believe you and she thought you were pranking her,' I told her, putting my arm around her shoulders.

'She hates me,' Ella whispered and I shook my head.

'She doesn't,'

'All she cares about is the fact we're not married,' Ella protested and I held her hand.

'Then we'll get married sooner, before baby makes a show. If it'll make your parents happy.'

'That's defying the whole point of marriage – we're meant to get married because we love each other and wanna spend forever together and not because my Mum is pissed off because I'm pregnant.' Ella protested.

'Well, I dunno about you but I love you and I already want to spend forever together with you and our daughter.' I gently whispered to her, holding her hand, and she squeezed it back.

'And I want to stay with you forever, but it wouldn't feel right, you know?' Ella explained.

'I get you; Karla will come around on the idea. She's probably coming to find us now,' I whispered and Ella closed her eyes to lean against me. I knew she was using her gift to find where her Mum was at the moment

'Yeah, she's coming up here.' Ella said, 'She looks like she's cried,' I could tell she felt guilty.

'So have you,'

'I always cry,' Ella pointed out.

'Look, I took a dip in your Mum's mind – she's just so surprised this has happened to you and you're so far along when we've only been together, what, six weeks? I'm guessing what you – well, what we did at the party never made it to her?' I asked and she shook her head, 'So of course she'll be surprised, then she'll question if it's mine, then she'll be over the moon. My parents will do the exact same thing,' I assured her.

'I forget you haven't told your parents yet,'

'Yeah, and my brothers – apart from Jake.'

'You have to do this all when you get back,' Ella laughed gently as I groaned.

'Uh, I don't want too,' I laughed before placing my hand on her abdomen. 'It'll be worth it in the end when she makes an appearance.'

'Only nineteen weeks to go,' She whispered, putting her hand next to mine, feeling the faint flutters of the baby. 'Well according to Google she can hear us now,'

'Then she knows how much we love her, yeah?' I asked back, amazed that she kicked again.

'I'll take that as a yes,' Ella grinned, pulling her shirt back down again.

'You're actually getting bigger, guessing she's dropping slightly.' I said, noticing the small bump she had gained. I probably only managed to notice it because her leggings were falling down slightly and was sitting on her lower hips than waist, exposing her plain stomach. That, and she sleeps with practically no clothes on so I can see the bump go from non-existent, to what look like a bit of chubby fat, to what is now actually looking like a baby bump. The bump didn't really correspond to how many weeks she was, but the midwife had already warned because of the way the baby was sitting when she dropped, there would be a bump but it wouldn't be a big one. Also, because Ella was so small at five foot nothing, and was tiny in both weight and frame and muscular as well from Maui, the bump would be small. No one's fault. Just the way the baby grew.

'Yeah, I think so too,' Ella muttered slightly.

'What's this, you're admitting you have a bump?' I laughed, knowing she's declined any form me saying she has a bump.

'I'm gunna have to admit it sometime,' Ella laughed and I pulled her to sit on my lap. 'We're so not prepared,'

'Well we fly back tomorrow, day after we have the twenty week anomaly scan then after that why don't we hit Reading and get prepared?' I offered, holding her waist as she sat on my knee.

'Could we?'

'Of course we can,' I whispered, kissing her gently on the lips.

'Thanks,'

'Ella, there you are! I am so sorry; I didn't mean to come across like that. Congratulations my darling girl, both of you in fact,' Karla came out of nowhere, and just embraced Ella. Sure enough, Ella started crying into her chest and I smiled at them both, relieved that after the start this happened to work out. 'How far along are you?' Karla asked but didn't let go of Ella.

'Twenty one weeks, isn't it Joe?' Ella asked.

'Twenty one weeks today, yeah.' I added on for her, smiling as Karla beamed at me.

'How are you so far along? You and Joe have only been together for a month or so?' Karla asked as Ella eventually managed to break away from the hug and coming back over to me, arms wrapped around my waist as I put my hand on her shoulder.

'I kinda... met him when the girls and I went down to Cornwall and you said I could only drink one night? Yeah... I drunk a bit too much and well, lets just say there is a baby to show for what we did,' Ella joked and the shock was palpable on Karla's face.

'I'll pretend I didn't hear that because you are actually doing something about it,' Karla said but I grinned down at Ella, gently kissing her as we knew now all her family were okay with the baby and we were out of the woods this side of the pond.


	67. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 66 - Joe

**Chapter 66 – Joe**

 _Three weeks later_

'Are you sure you want to do this today?' I asked Ella, sitting opposite her in the main Atrium at Maui. We both had got fizzy drinks from the vending stand and had been sitting down quietly taking as other Savant's walked around us, doing their work at Maui. Neither of us had any reason to be at Maui as we were both on "medical leave" for another three days but we realised we had yet to tell the big Boss about Ella's pregnancy. After the 20 week anomaly scan came back completely clear, and the midwife confirmed that Ella was having indeed a baby girl and was starting to drop at a slow pace but would be in the correct position by 35 weeks, ready for a normal labour. We had already started ordering baby stuff like the cot and babygrows and so on, but came to realise we had yet to tell Maui – because we're terrible people. So we had to do it sooner rather than later, even if Ella's now 24 weeks pregnant and you're meant to tell at four weeks. Oops! But better late than never, am I right?

'We kind of have too,' Ella said, downing the rest of her Pepsi, throwing the can into the recycling bin as she brushed the hair out of her face. 'We should have done it sooner,'

'It'll be fine. Jake and I hacked into the living arrangement documents – they have some cute houses ready for people to move into. It'll all be over and done with within a few weeks, then we can get baby ready,' I gently told her and she smiled, nodding at me. 'Come on,'

I got up, taking her hand in mine as I binned my can of fizzy, and we both walked up the six flights of stairs to the upper levels of the office where Susan's office was – completely desolated from the entirety of the Maui but with brilliant views of every place in Maui. We noticed the sideways looks we were getting as we ran up the stairs together, and more at our hands that were linked. We would be getting a few more looks if Ella wore her slightly tighter vest top as the bump was more visible but she had elected for the baggy hoody she normally wears to work – plain black with a large pocket at the front over her abdomen where her phone remained. A few minutes later we rocked up outside Susan's office and we looked at each other.

'Do you fancy doing most of the talking?' Ella asked me and I noticed she was shaking slightly. Bless her. I nodded as I knocked on the door.

'Come in,' We heard Susan say and she sounded slightly annoyed. Oh crap. I pushed opened the door and she did look annoyed momentarily but her face lit up when she saw Ella and I holding hands together. Practically dragging Ella into the room, Susan gestured to the two seats in front of us.

'Ella, Joe, how have you both been?' Susan asked closing down her computer so we knew it meant business. Or she just wanted a talk.

'We've been good,' I said.

'How was Colorado, Ella, are your parents doing okay? Your brothers and the girls?' Susan directed towards her and I visibly saw Ella relax.

'They're all good,'

'And you two are...' Susan gestured between us two and I took Ella's hand, raising her left hand for her so Susan could see the ring.

'Good.' Ella said for the third time.

Engaged,' I said proudly, smiling at Ella.

'Oh you two! Congratulations – when did this happen? It isn't on files!' Susan exclaimed, gesturing towards Ella's hand so she could look at the ring properly. 'Oh it's so beautiful,'

'Thanks,' Ella said shyly, 'It happened a few weeks ago – just over six weeks I think. With everything happening we just forgot to tell you.' Ella said sweetly.

'Oh congratulations you two, you deserve this. You really do.' Susan said, opening her laptop up to update the system on us two. We saw as she put it together and some things popped up such as our entitlement to higher pay and a joint living arrangement.

'That's not the reason we're here, though, but you might want to keep that up for a second,' I said, gesturing to the programme. 'Ella and I are expecting a baby,' I told Susan and her mouth dropped as Ella looked down.

'Really?' Susan asked.

'Yeah, a little girl. She's due in January.' I added on as Ella shifted in her chair uncomfortably – but if it was from the baby or the conversation I couldn't tell.

'You're that far along already Ella? I thought you were on the implant,' Susan asked.

'I was, well – am. Mine was one of the faulty ones. It was a hell of a choice to make but I'm looking forward to having her,' Ella shrugged but still seemed awkward.

'So that would make you –' Susan tried to work out on her fingers how far along she was.

'Twenty four weeks, yeah, quick maths.' Ella added.

'What happened to telling me at four weeks, like we discussed when you started.' Susan joked, putting in the information we just told her into the programme again.

'I would have told you at four weeks – if I knew at four weeks,' Ella commented.

'You didn't know at four weeks?'

'I didn't know for about three months. I mean, I don't exactly look hella pregnant do I?'

'You didn't know!' Susan exclaimed, continuing to rapidly type into the programme.

'Well, I had symptoms but it just coincided with other things like morning sickness when I was ill and had food poisoning, no period because of the implant, I just thought I really fancied Nando's,' Ella joked.

'Have you got the scan with you?' Susan asked and I pulled it out of Ella's pocket, handing it over to Susan as she marvelled at the baby. It's been over ten years since there was a baby born between two Maui employee's. Jake's baby was the last one from one Maui employee with someone else. Normally, Soulfinder's aren't allowed to work with each others but Susan said we could be the exception to all rules.

'How did Michael take this news, Ella?'

'Er – he doesn't know. Yet.' Ella whispered.

'You haven't told him?'

'I've told everyone else, so has Joe! He's the last one.' Ella protested but laughed slightly.

'You're putting it off aren't you?'

'Little bit, yeah.' Ella joked.

'Okay guys, I'll put it through the system for you and I'll upgrade your housing as soon as I can so you can get ready for the baby girl – have you thought of names yet?' Susan asked, flicking through the housing documents and picked the one for that both Ella and I really wanted. At the end of a very secluded street, a five bedroom house with nearly an acre of garden behind with paths directly down to the park behind. It was absolutely stunning and spacious and both Ella and I had fallen in love with it when we looked at it. Not only that, it had the perfect room for the nursery.

'Not yet,' I said as Ella looked at me. Ella had already said I was naming the baby after all I've done for her, but I refused because I've only done what a good boyfriend would do, and then what a good fiancé would do too. She's done more for me than I did for her but she acutely refused and would walk out of the room when I said something about both of us naming her. I think we had settled for me making a short list then seeing what we think after she's born but people thought it was a stupid plan.

'You will before she's born. So I've put you two down for this house,' Susan rotated the monitor and it was the house we both loved. 'You both are happy with this, yeah?' We nodded. Hell yeah we were. 'You can move in as soon as next Monday, we'll book the vans and everything and give you some money for decorations. Don't worry about money, we'll sort out your maternity and paternity leave too and you're getting a sizable amount of compensation money for what happened in Cornwall from the Government – and we're talking about a fair few figures for the first payment alone – and when I file the report of the broken implant you'll get more for baby too. That will be ontop of your pay rise, so I think you two will be financially well off for a while, but please put some away for baby when she's older. So you two come back in an hour or so when I get the paperwork done, then we'll talk through the plans, but congratulations you too.' Susan said, and with that we were dismissed.

In silence, we held hands again and I gently tugged her into a walk to leave the office. I pulled open the door and gestured for her to go first out the door and I closely followed her, and we only managed to walk a few week before we heard someone behind us.

'What were you two doing in there?' Michael said and Ella jumped, turning around.

'We had to declare the engagement.' Ella simply said.

'You didn't need that long of an appointment for that,' Michael said, hugging Ella as I stood there awkwardly. He shot me a slightly evil look but didn't sustain it. 'I haven't seen you for so long,'

'That's your fault for not coming over sooner.' Ella said.

'Mmm, half true. You could have dropped in,'

'I have been healing, and I've been busy too.'

'You look good, though, your limps gone as well. You appear to have put on a bit of weight too...' Michael said, instantly frowning. I wasn't anywhere near his mind and I sensed his confusion and the very slight seedling thought of doubt.

'I should probably tell you by now, but you do not touch or say anything to Joe,' Ella said, pushing me back slightly and out of Michael's arm reach. Michael immediately looked up and shot me the dirtiest look known to man and I could safely assume he still didn't like me. I noticed how Ella and him have the same coloured eyes, but Ella's appeared much softer compared to the daggered looed Michael gave me.

'Why would I?' He said through gritted teeth as Ella literally held both his arms by his side. He looked down at his little sister and saw the tears in her eyes and immediately calmed down. 'What is it?' He gently said, hugging her slightly. 'Ella?'

'I'm pregnant,' She whispered and Michael just stood in shock. This was definitely not how she wanted to tell him, but his reacting wasn't too bad. He relaxed slightly, hugging her as she started to cry again. I realised she would start crying when she told anyone she cared about just in case they drifted away or reacted angrily.

'Why are you crying? Is this what you wanted?' Michael asked.

'Of course it is but I didn't want to annoy you,' Ella mumbled, and walked straight over to me. I held my arms around so she practically walked straight into my chest, folding herself into me as she started to cry. I rubbed my hand up and down her back, kissing her forehead.

'It's okay baby,' I whispered to her as she started to pull herself together.

'You two haven't even been together long, how can you be pregnant.' Michael said calmly coming over to me but he didn't seem like he wanted to punch me. 'Ella?' He said softly, his hand on her back as she cringed slightly. 'Joe, what have you done to her?'

'I've done nothing, just give her a second. She's been terrified of telling you,' I told Michael and he looked devastated.

'Why?'

'Just in case you'd hate her and never speak to her again,' I said and Michael looked horrified.

'Ella, is that true?' She nodded against me. Michael came over and hugged her slightly (but ended up hugging me too, but we wouldn't point that out to him)

'Ella, I won't hate you and I won't stop talking to you, congrats – both of you,' He said gently but it was definitely wasn't aimed at me. Thankfully Ella could not see the look he shot me. I guess his words by "don't touch Ella" was breached – but does it count if it was before the warning? Hmm...

'Do you mean it?' Ella snivelled.

'Of course I mean it!' Michael protested, hitting her on the arm gently. 'We're having words but of course I'm happy for you. You finally got something in your life that's good,' Michael said gently, and she turned into his chest, hugging him. He looked a bit startled – Ella told me they weren't a very touchy feely huggy family so he must have been surprised that she just started hugging him. Once again, there was an evil look in my direction and he mouthed something to me along the lines of "I'm killing you later,"

'I can see what you're mouthing, Michael, leave him out of this,' Ella said.

'Well, is it his?'

'Yeah of course it is,'

'Then I'm not leaving him out of this, am I?' Michael argued back.

'Oi, stop that right now or I swear to God you're not meeting your niece.' Ella snapped at him, coming back over to me taking my hand,

'Niece?' Michael asked confused. 'I thought you're meant to be four weeks when you tell her?'

'I would have – if I wasn't in Colorado at four weeks,'

'So you're seven?' Michael said and I frowned then realised. He thought the most recent trip of Colorado coincided with the four weeks benchmark. Uh oh.

'No, I'm twenty four weeks. Jeez, do your maths correctly,' Ella said.

'What – that far. What was twenty four weeks ago. Hang on... the party. The engagement party. You – You said nothing happened!?' Michael yelled at Ella and what she told me was true; he was very volatile with anger.

'I lied,' Ella joked, rubbing her stomach. 'Look, I'm not lying. Can you please stop yelling and acting like I'm sixteen and pregnant?' She pulled out the ultrasound handing it to him, and he clutched it with slightly greedy hands, taking in the ultrasound picture from the twenty week scan. Our baby had grown quite a bit and was putting on weight and you could see how formed she was already. Even on the 3D scan, which I treated Ella too, showed our daughter and I was amazed to see how much a baby could resemble their mother but it was uncanny – the exact same button nose and high cheekbones.

'But –'

'No buts,' Ella snapped back.

'How?'

'You were the one who gave me the talk – do I need to give it back?' Ella laughed.

'No, no. So this is real? You both are going to do this?'

'Yeah, yeah we are.' I added in, hugging Ella to my side as she grinned up at me. I gently kissed her.

'Wait, you said niece? It's a girl?' Michael asked and he seemed a lot more flaccid and calm and turned into the funny, loving brother that Ella was always on about. He smiled at me, and then Ella, and then at the scan he held in his hands.

'Yeah, it's a girl. She's due mid-January. You're gunna be an Uncle.' Ella gently said and he came over and hugged us as Ella started to cry again – this time from relief that no one hated her, or the baby.


	68. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 67 - Joe

**Chapter 67 – Joe**

 **November 21** **th** **, 2015.**

The night slowly dragged itself on as I pretended to sleep next to my fiancée. She was fast asleep, laying on her right side, one hand on her ever growing baby bump and the other holding the duvet up to her face, her slightly parted lips resting unperceivable against her hand as she breathed gently. Honestly, the only word I could use to describe Ella was beautiful, like an innocent model. Even just looking at Ella calmed me down, and was mainly confused as to how she was so calm when this pregnant. The due date was brought forward at the twenty week scan to the 18th January, so was just over a month away now. We had finished everything but I as shitting myself as I realised I knew absolutely nothing about how to raise a child. I knew absolutely fuck all. I've read book after book on what to do when Ella's in labour, and know all the practises of how to raise a newborn but did I know what to do when the baby was here? Nope!

There was a slight issue in the way. When the small security bomb went off in Cornwall, which now seemed like a distant memory, I had burnt my arm quite badly – second degree – when I poured vodka on the motherboards in the electrical outhouse then set it alight. I didn't move quickly enough and got my arm caught in the flames. They gave me tablets to fight any infection but I forgot to take them in the worry for Ella. Sure enough it became infected by under the new layer of skin that formed so I didn't notice. The infection took to my blood and headed towards my lungs making in incredibly hard to breathe and was wheezy. I didn't tell Ella, not wanting her to be scared especially with the baby due so soon. So I had started booking the appointments at night when Ella was fast asleep. I've had six so far and she was still sound asleep after each other. I had been taking the medicines religiously and had started to feel myself and tonight was the last appointment and hopefully get the all clear.

The alarm on my phone started vibrating and I quickly turned it off. Ella mumbled something, adjusting how she was lying and I hesitated.

'Joe?' She whispered and I knew she was barely awake.

'Yeah hun?'

'What was that?' She muttered.

'Just an email,' I lied, 'Go back to sleep baby.'

'Oh, okay. I love you,' She whispered and was straight back asleep. I dipped into her mind and saw she was already heavily asleep and was partially thinking of me and the baby. Smilingly gently at her, I kissed her temple before wiggling out of bed slowly so not to disturb her.

'I love you too, Ella,' I whispered, getting changed into a fresh pair of jeans and sticking on a jumper, bracing for the cold bitter winds the end of November storms bring. 'I'll be back soon,' I whispered to her, kissing the end of her nose before walking out the room, closing the door to our bedroom quietly behind us feeling the wave of guilt that always passes me when I'm doing something behind her back.

A few weeks ago we moved into our new house that would be ours for God know's how long and it was perfectly. Large and spacious but it felt completely right to be here I walked forward onto the landing, past the bathroom and hesitated outside the babies nursery. Gently I pushed open the door and smiled as the room greeted me.

Ella wanted to have one room especially for the baby for her nursery, and when she grows up we could just leave it if we wanted another kid at some point in the future. Not only that, she wasn't a fan of the gendering of colours and forcing societies strict gender rules among our daughter, I wasn't either if you was wondering, so the idea of painting the room baby pink for the girl was out the window the second our mothers suggested it. Instead, Ella asked me if she can paint the whole room without me seeing and reluctantly I agreed. So I said I would be away for two days when I had to travel to Scotland for a conference with Ella's brothers from America whilst she would stay and do the nursery. I came back, expecting a cream room with no furniture but my God was I wrong.

The entire room was jungle themes – cartoon trees painted on the walls with cartoon animals skilfully painted onto the walls. Monkeys and Giraffes, Lions and elephants were painted on the wall in light colours, and all the furniture had been assembled by Ella and Jake perfectly and now filled the room. The already reasonably sized room appeared a lot bigger with the baby cot in the corner by the window, the radiator next to it but not close enough for baby could reach it. Shelves were to the right of the bed, just above the changing table. There was a small bench covered in cushions and a bookshelf. In the corner, a chest full of toys and more shelves above that, jam packed with all the supplies everyone was getting us already. I grinned to myself, sensing the future ghosts of Ella and I with the baby and even hearing her giggle, which made me want her here now (although not prematurely). I closed the door on the whole premonition, before running down the stairs again and closing the door.

Jake was in the car outside my house, waiting for me. He was doing a night shift at work but was told to be free just in case something happened to Ella. When I told him I needed a lift to the hospital he said he'd take me there one way but I can get a taxi back as it was past his bedtime.

'You better have told Ella,' was all Big Brother said to me when I got in the car.

'Of course I told her, she's just asleep.' I lied.

'Uh, bullshit. Ella would not be sleeping if she knew you were going to the hospital. I am not getting involved with any of your deceptions. She is a big girl – she can take news like this when she's heavily pregnant,' Jake lectured me as we started to drive towards the hospital.

'It's for her own sake,'

'She will not see it in that way,' Jake told me.

'If she finds out, that is –' I was convinced she will never find out until it is far, far too late to do anything or get angry about. I'd tell her after she gave birth.

'You can't just lie to Ella, she will know.' Jake argued with me and I just remained silent for the rest of the twenty five minute journey. Only when we started to get near the hospital, Royal Berks where Ella was already confirmed to give birth to our daughter. 'Why haven't you told her?'

'So she doesn't worry and get stressed, not when she's this pregnant,' I told him and he shook his head.

'Bullshit and you know it. You're too scared to tell her in case she flips. She has gone through so much for you and this is how you repay her. You don't know how hard pregnancy is on her body until after when you notice she's back to normal. You don't understand how many hormones she has flowing through her at the moment and you don't understand she's only still going and remaining strong because she cares so, _so_ much for you. And you repay her by sneaking around behind her back to the hospital for what could have been a life threatening infection and not even tell her, then blame it in the pregnancy,' Jake yelled at me pulling into the car park. 'I know full well you mean everything to her, but if you're sneaking around behind her back does she mean everything to you? Perhaps something to think about. Let me know how you get on,' Jake simply said and I got out the car without saying another word to him.

Did he suggest Ella loved me more than I loved her? I thought I was doing this to protect her and the baby, but was I just alluding myself?

Half an hour later, the nurses gave me the all clear. The infection had completely cleared up from my lungs and apart from a tiny amount of scar tissue in my lungs and a very, very decreases lung capacity I was free to live my life. I would just have to go back once every three months for two years for checkups but the chance of the infection coming back was minimal. The nurses there were lovely and kept asking me about Ella and the baby, and whilst some flirted a bit more than I was comfortable, especially when I wasn't able to speak in the middle of doing spirometers and lung capacity tests but most were lovely. I had checked the bus times and found one that would take me back to where we lived now, just a ten minute walk to the front door.

'Thanks,' I said to the receptionist, putting on my coat.

'No problems, Mr. Matthews. Good luck with the baby – what were you going to name her?' The receptionist asked to me.

'Er, we haven't decided yet. It's still going to be a surprise,' I said, doing up my zip and putting my hood up against the cold wind and lashing rain that had started. The hospital was dead this time of night – well, it was in the occupational ward of Royal Berkshire hospital. Despite knowing I was the only one in the hospital ward and there wasn't another appointment until nine in the morning there was beams of headlights as a car pulled up outside, and they went away.

'Oh, how cute! Well, you must bring her back here when she's born, Mr. Matthews,' The receptionist keenly said.

'Yeah, of course,' I said with very little intention to do that.

'Off you go then, Joe,' the receptionist said and I smiled, leaving already prepared for a long night of travel to get home. The automatic doors swooshed opened and I walked out as the headlights of a car in front of me started up again. Bringing my arm up to shield my eyes slightly I frowned at the driver, wondering what the Hell they were doing until I noticed the car. A Ford Fiesta – 04 reg and dark blue. The driver was of course, my heavily pregnant Soulfinder.

I walked around the side of the car, feeling stupidly guilty, opening the passenger and climbing into the passenger seat.

'Ella –' I went to explain but she clenched her jaw, the muscle clearly rippling as she tried not to punch me. She was still in pyjamas – fleece pyjama pants and a black shirt that highlighted the baby bump. She didn't look heavily pregnant, maybe the same as someone who is fourteen weeks perhaps, but it was progress from her relatively flat body at twenty weeks. Ella had through on a jumper over the top, though, and had her hand on the gearstick cleched. She was very volatile.

'Seatbelt.' She said monotone, and as I clipped it in she took off the handbrake and started to drive away. Five minutes of stone dead silence, and was we were leaving Reading and entering the streets of Earley, I went to speak.

'Ella,' I gently said.

'Why didn't you tell me, Joe? Why did you just have to sneak around like that?' Ella snapped. 'I woke up and you were gone and I was terrified. You didn't leave a note, you didn't pick up your God damn phone and you didn't even reply telepathically!'

'You didn't try to contact me telepathically,' I muttered, pulling out my phone and seeing the miscalls and the frantic texts from Ella. Well, the six calls and the various messages going from "where are you" to increased swear words in panic.

'Yes I did, Joe, but you were too busy in hospital. I had to project to find you even though I'm not meant to use my gift!' Ella yelled.

'I didn't want you to panic,' I told her, my hand on her lap as she drove through the nearly dead streets of three a.m. Britain. All of a sudden she grabbed her stomach, wincing in pain. I could almost feel the pain radiating off her as she curled up slightly, her foot coming off the accelerator.

'Ow,' she whispered trying to breathe slowly, but the tears in her eyes were apparent. I grabbed the wheel, using my telekinesis to start breaking the car, putting the clutch down and indicating to the side. When we eventually stopped, i put the handbrake on, turning off the engine.

'What is it?' I asked, my arm around her shoulders and my hand on her knee.

'Braxton Hicks, it's been happening since I got up.' Ella whispered, hunched over silently crying on the steering wheel.

'What if it's labour?' I asked shocked. I just let my girl stay at home when she was having these fake contractions.

'It's not,' She whispered. 'Better not be any more painful,' Ella gently laughed but it sounded hollow.

'I am so, so sorry Ella. I only did it so you wouldn't get stressed or scared for me in case it was dangerous, I didn't want anything to happen but it happened anyway!' I protested, before realising I shouldn't be the one freaking out right now. 'I'm taking you to the hospital just in case,'

The midwife had told us that Ella's pregnancy was considered high risk because of how small she was, how small the baby was, how the baby wasn't in a proper position and whilst the baby was active she wasn't active enough and the fact Ella didn't have any early stage prenatal care. All of these risks snowballed and the hospital were concerned enough to book an appointment for Ella on her due date – 18th January – and if she wasn't in labour by the end of the day they would induce her. Even though they kept telling Ella nothing was wrong, they pulled me out of the room to tell me that they had concerns for both the baby and Ella and it was just for their own sake. Ella, of course, was projecting and heard what they said and was getting increasingly anxious.

'No, Joe, it's fine,' Ella said. 'I just want to go back to bed,' She whispered nearly in tears.

'But what if you are in labour?'

'Then we'd find out later. Anyway, I'm too early.' Ella said, lolling her head against the door. 'Are you okay to drive?'

'Of course I am, come on.' I got out the car, walking around the front to open Ella's door. I quickly scooped down to put my arm around her back, gently taking her out the car so she was leaning on me, her eyes half closed already. We slowly walked around the car again before I opened the door again, helping her inside. I closed the door slowly, jogging back around the driver's side but by the time I climbed in the door, adjusted the seat and turned the engine on Ella was already fast asleep but rather than facing towards me, like she normally does, she faced towards the side window.


	69. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 68 - Ella

**Chapter 68 – Ella**

December 5th, 2015.

Inevitably, I was still pissed off for Joe creeping around to go to the doctors. I think it was a stupid thing to not tell me about, and an even stupider thing that it was a long term doctor's appointment and he was creeping out every week whilst he left me to sleep. The morning after I drove to Royal Berks to get him, and to have a go at him as well, I woke up to him missing again. Patiently, I waited for another half an hour and literally minutes away from me calling him he came back through the door of our new house with bags of food to make me (what would have been) breakfast in bed and some flowers and chocolates. I felt like a bitch, but I was still annoyed at him. Jake, who knew the entire time and had to deal with me yelling at him as well for not telling me, agreed with me.

'Stop giving me that look, Ella, please.' Joe said, toothbrush in his mouth as I uncomfortably shuffled in bed.

'What look?'

'That slightly distrusting look.' He said, walking back out the room as I sighed slightly, settling myself down on the bed shaking. I didn't want our relationship to be like this in the run up to the due date of our daughter. This would be the last few weeks we would be completely alone for the bare minimum of eighteen years, and we spend the last few weeks arguing. Well, me yelling at him as he tries to calm me down.

'Joe,' I called. A few second later he came around the door, looking slightly confused. He looked amazing, in just a pair of tight fitting boxers. His chest was exposed and was starting to lose the tan he had picked up but still looked bloody amazing. He had just had a shower, and his wet brown hair was going everywhere and his bright blue eyes shone as he looked at me concerned. 'Come here,'

He did what I said, sitting beside my side of the bed, one hand on my waist, gently stroking my hip.

'What's up?'

'I am so sorry for the way I've been with you over the last three weeks, I was just scared that you didn't tell me because it was something much worse. There's no way I can even justify being so pissed off with you. You were only doing it for the baby, and I got that. I'm so sorry, Joe.' I started to cry and Joe quickly came forward and hugged me, kissing my jawbone.

'It's okay, Ella, what I did was stupid anyway. I should have told you, I don't know why I didn't, it's okay. You have every right to be pissed off with me, and you have hormones going crazy at the moment. Don't worry about it baby, it's okay. Ella, please stop crying,' Joe practically begged, hugging me tight.

'I'm so sorry,' I whispered as Joe climbed into bed with me.

'Let's both just forget it ever happened, okay?' Joe said, settling down with my laying on his chest. 'I love you, I didn't want any of this to happen,'

'I didn't either, I'm sorry,'

'Ella, it's fine baby, you're very hormonal. Just think, in under two months, we'll have the baby here,' Joe whispered, shaking his head slightly. I knew he was having trouble actually comprehending that he was going to be a Dad and it all didn't seem real whilst the reality hit me a few months back when the baby started kicking and moving – you had to believe it after that. I had set up the entire nursery and just marvelled at it for a while. Soon, very soon, our daughter would sleep in that room.

'I know,' I whispered, hand on my protruding stomach despite still being small. People always asked how any weeks I was, because I only was so small and looked about twelve weeks pregnant, maybe slightly more?

'Come on then beautiful, bed time,' Joe said, telekinetically turning off the light and settling down slightly, and kissing the crown of my head. We had both got used to going to bed at half ten, mainly because i was absolutely shattered after doing a day of work whilst pregnant. I snuggled into Joe's bare chest slightly, and was out asleep within seconds.

 _ **03:38am, the next morning**_

I woke up startled the next morning, feeling the worst pain in my abdomen. Frowning in the dark, clutching the bump which was – duh – still there, I tried to work out what had caused the pain. Chances are it was just a one off cramp, which has happened quite a few times. The midwife had told me it was completely normal. I sat up slightly, grabbing the bottle of water from the floor next to my side of the bed, opening the cap with my lid before taking a sip, sitting uncomfortable. I pulled the duvet up around me slightly. I looked over at Joe, who was even asleep , arm empty where I used to curl up a minute or so ago but he didn't surface when I got up.

Ten or so minutes later, when nothing had happened, I laid back down on the bed back into his arm, and it was only when he noticed the warmth back again he resurfaced.

'Ella? You okay?' He sleepily mumbled, opening one eye.

'Yeah, I'm fine.' I mumbled back and he nodded despite the fact my gut was telling me I didn't feel good.

'I love you,' He whispered, kissing my forehead before he fell back to sleep immediately and leaving me completely baffled.

'I love you too,' I whispered back, falling asleep back on his chest.

 _ **04:18am**_

The abdominal pain was worse this time, but was now coupled with uncomfortableness and restlessness. I sat bolt upright and confused whilst my brain was ringing with only one thing; I was in labour. I frowned – no, I couldn't be. I was way too early and there were only two of these stomach pains and there was such a long gap between then. I was just overly paranoid. I paused slightly, looking down to make sure – thank God. My waters hadn't broken so I couldn't be.

Unable to shake my thoughts, I grabbed my phone from my bedside cabinet looking through my messages that had come through during the night. Crystal, Phee, Sky and I all had a group chat on Whatsapp group and even though we talked on it constantly it was mainly baby things now, mixed in with gossip and everything else as well.

'How you doing Ella – getting pretty close now?' Was the last message from Crystal, sent about an hour ago.

'I'm okay,' I replied with an emoji but really, I was completely confused about what was happening. The pain had completely subsided and I was back to my normal self but I wasn't too sure what to do. The midwife was off duty until nine in the morning, and I couldn't exactly wake Joe up. He's been having enough trouble with me being a bitch as it was. What could I really say even if I did wake him up? "Yeah, really bad stomach pain. Oh, it's gone now. Just thought I'd inform you?" No, it wasn't fair.

'You're up stupidly early!' Sky replied near enough immediately. 'It's like, four in the morning right?'

'Yeah, I was just restless – this business aint fun.' I lied. Well – I was, but it was due from a pain that felt seeminglessly what people described the early stages of labour like. Frowning, I looked out the crack in the curtain over the windows and saw it had started to snow, and smiled slightly. Crawling out of bed, and out of the duvet that was starting to strangle me and straightjacket me in my own bed. I got to the window, moving the curtain slightly and ducking underneath it, swearing slightly as I hit my knee against the warm radiator under the window. The sight that greeted me was relatively welcome.

A thin layer of sticky snow had covered the tarmac and the off-road small car park, with space for only three cars, was completely icy from limited use. We rarely had visitors, and those who did parked on the raised curb or on the driveway. The layer of snow was not even two centimetres yet, but the eerily silence had fallen. Smiling slightly, and checking up the road to see no one was out (it was unlikely, it was at least 150m before the nearest house) I grabbed the chill of the snow in my mind, spinning it around. Sure enough, the snow fall started to create a tornado within the three empty car spaces, spinning around. Smaller snowflakes were grabbed into its merciful spin, twirling around in midair. My brain picked up the chill from outside, but I continued to play with the snow. Out of sheer curiosity, not using my gift for over six months now, I imagined making a snowman in the snow. Three circles arranged perfectly on top of each other, in height ascending order, and even with a snow carrot. Opening my eyes, I saw the snowman my imagination had portrayed outside, sitting happily on the driveway. Let's just hope, for Snowman's sake, we don't need to get the car out tomorrow.

I sighed, turning around again and walking around back to my side of the bed. My phone lit up again but I ignored the message, tucking myself back in again into the cocoon of warmth. I rolled over and snuggled against Joe, looking up at him. He had a slightly boyish appearance when he sleeps, his normally quiffed hair was incredibly fluffy, lips gently parted and his very light freckles just about showing. I smiled gently at him, feeling so guilty for cutting him out and ignoring him ever so slightly after I found out he was sneaking around. He had been nothing but brilliant to me, making sure I was okay and waiting on me, bringing me drinks and tucking me up and playing with my hair, sending flowers and bath bombs. I didn't realise I still had it in me to be such a bitch, but in hindsight I really did. Internally, I decided I would get up early and buy him flowers and make him breakfast in bed – mainly because I could but also because I felt incredibly bad. However, I would have to walk to the shops – Mr. Snowman can't get hurt. Slowly, I fell asleep looking at my fiancée and feeling a sense of calm descend onto me.

 _ **5:12am**_

 _Get your ass in gear, you're in labour._

That was what my brain appeared to be telling me as I woke myself up with yet another stabbing pain in my lower abdomen, although it felt to be a lot more branching. I sat bolt upright again, clutching my stomach and biting back the tears that appeared. I leant over, turning on the bedside cabinet light as I struggled to realise what was happening. I knew it was stupidly early in the morning; the clock on the wall was barely visible but I could just about see the hour arm on "5", but couldn't see the minute arm. These pains still had about forty or so minutes in between each one, so even if I was in labour I was nowhere near the end and was at the very, very early side of labour. Not to even mention my back was killing me. Frowning slightly as I kicked my legs out of bed to sit on the side of the bed – even though Joe was still bloody asleep and would probably sleep through the end of the world at this point – I noticed I felt pretty wet. Not in that way, and not in the way that I pissed myself (haven't done that since I was a kid, so not that I could even remember what pissing myself felt like). I frowned even more, noticing that I was soaked. Probably because my waters had broke. Well, shit. My day off plans had changed rather quickly – I was looking forward to watching Big Hero 6 whilst having popcorn.

'Joe,' I said, turning slightly to see him still asleep. Unbelievable. 'Joe, wake up.'

'W-what's wrong, Ella, you alright?' He asked, squinting at me before realising I was sitting up clutching the bed sheets.

'Er, I've gone into labour,' I simply said, and I've never seen Joe move so quickly ever. 'Alright, calm down,' I joked as he clambered across the bed, coming to sit beside me with his arm around my shoulder, a sense of urgency about him.

'You're what?' He asked, his hand on my knee, as if he was trying to keep me calm. Even though I am perfectly calm and he's the one shitting himself. I watched as Joe looked down at my lap, to my light grey joggers which had clear wet marks on them. He pulled a face.

'That's not piss, don't worry,' I joked. 'I've gone into labour,'

'But the due date isn't for –'

'A month and a few days, yeah, I know. She clearly isn't planning on waiting, though.' I simply said.

'We aren't ready though, We haven't really got anything,'

'You can try telling that to my uterus – I'll see if it listens to you.' I simply joked around not taking the whole experience too seriously. I might just head back to sleep. Scientifically I have about half an hour before the next pain – if there should be one – and thirty minute naps are proven to be the most refreshing.

'We haven't even packed the babies bag yet!'

'Eh, you don't need a bag,' I said matter of fact. There was a common debate Joe and I had, which sometimes turned into an argument. I protested saying you didn't need the six or so baby bags everyone brought in to hospital, and could squeeze it all into one – or even a back pack whilst Joe protested saying you did and you don't know how much stuff you need to bring into hospital or how long we'd be there for. However, at about five weeks early, I would probably be facing a few day stay in hospital.

'Yes you do Ella. Come on, you need to go to hospital,'

I flinched away from the word "hospital" laying straight back into bed, pulling the duvet around me.

'You go ahead, I'll meet you there. I'll just have a nap,'

'Ella, come on.' Joe persisted.

'Look, it's just happened. I've only had three of these pains so far and they're like an hourish apart. We have time. Let's go back to bed.'

'Ella –' Joe went to persuade me.

'Joe, please. I'm so tired, please.' I whispered, begging him almost.

'I'll go pack the bag, you stay here okay. If you have another contraction come and get me.' Joe said softly, brushing my hair from my face before grinning. I nodded.

'Thank you,' I whispered as he leant forward and kissed my forehead.

'Be safe, tell me if anything is wrong, okay?' I nodded again and Joe got up and left the room. However, sleep didn't exactly come easy. I was over thinking everything, especially as Joe pointed out how early I was. Even though we weren't too premature, it would still be enough to mean the baby would have to spend a while in the neonatal unit. Was all this because of the fact I was too stupid to see that I was pregnant? Was I to blame for this? I sat laying in bed over thinking, but realised I couldn't hear Joe walk around. I got up feeling light headed, before walking out of the bedroom to try and find Joe – it didn't take me long. He was sitting on the floor by the door of the bathroom, head on his knees.

'Joe? You alright?' I whispered as he looked up at me shocked.

'I thought you were going back to sleep,' He whispered, looking up at me still confused.

'I just went to see where you are, what's up?' I asked.

'We're actually going to have this baby, aren't we? We're going to be parents at twenty one. I'm going to be a Dad,' He whispered completely confused. I guessed he had just realised the proportions of what was about to happen.

'It's only just hit you, hasn't it?' I asked, offering him my hands. He grabbed them both, jumping back up again, before moving his hands onto my bump. Joe nodded slightly, and I smiled softly back at him. I knew he was having trouble actually understanding what it all meant, and it probably didn't help that the baby appeared to be arriving early. I knew that if I didn't start having contractions within the next twenty four hours I'd have to be induced, but I never really wanted to be induced. I wanted it to all happen naturally but hey hey, baby had other plans. Hell, we still hadn't decided on a name that's how quick things moved on.

'Oh my God,' Was all Joe could say.

'Come on, let's pack this bag everyone says you need,' I joked, waddling off into the baby nursery but Joe jogged to catch up.

'No, you're going back to bed. You're going to need your sleep. You're a crabby little shit if you don't get a good night's sleep now, and you dunno how long you'll be in labour for. Come on,' Joe put his hand around my back, slowly guiding me back to bed. He got me to sit down, then lie down and pull the blanket up to my shoulders. 'I'll still be near you if you wake up, just call me telepathically if you do need me.'

Joe said sweetly, tucking my hair behind my ear before kissing me on the forehead. 'You have no idea how much I'm looking forward to this,' He whispered as I started to drift off.


	70. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 69 - Joe

**Chapter 69 – Joe**

2:38pm, the same day.

'I mean, I know people say in the books to use metaphors to describe the pain but I just feel like a complete and utter twat,' Ella said, sitting cross legged on our sofa with me sitting on the floor in front of her, looking at her slightly confused.

After Ella's waters broke in the early hours of this morning, and my following existential crisis when I realised we were going to be parents, she had continued to get these stomach pains which were contractions in the very early stages of labour. We had called the midwife as soon as it was an alright time, and she confirmed Ella was having contractions (although Ella still called them stomach pains as they weren't too bad yet) but because she was early she would have to go into hospital once the pains started to get worse. If we were still only a centimetre or two dilated, which was what the midwife said Ella was when she visited at around ten this morning, we would have to go into hospital for Ella to be given a drug to quickstep the labour. Ella protested, but it would be the only way or she could be stuck in this crappy stage where nothing much is happening but the anticipation is palpable for God know's how long, and the risk something bad happens to our daughter increases greatly.

'Maybe next time don't say the pain is like getting stung by a bee in your vagina to a very serious woman,' I joked and she rolled her eyes.

'She can go fuck herself once the baby is out. I'm never seeing her again.' Ella said.

'Language,'

'I'm literally about to push a watermelon shaped thing out of my vagina and you put it there, don't play the language card,' Ella joked, laying down on the sofa. The anticipation was killing us both off. We weren't too sure what to do. We didn't want to tell anyone when it was still in this pointless stage of labour, so we couldn't visit anyone. We both had the day off so our passes into Maui wouldn't work and we had already done the suggested things from the midwife; go for a walk, take a bath, cook something.

'I didn't realise days could drag this long,' I said.

'We're not going to have the baby today,'

'No?'

'No, I got a feeling maybe tomorrow. What day is it today – the 6th?' Ella said, looking at the little wooden block calendar we had in front of the fireplace which was decorated for Christmas. 'Nah, not today.'

'Hmm,' was all I could say. I knew our daughter was born when it was snowing, and had a thick blanket across the floor. I also knew our daughter would be born in the dark hours, as the blinds were open in the room we held our daughter and it was pitch blank but had that seemingly white glow, the trees coated in the snow. I checked the weather and we were only due snow today, and not tomorrow like Ella suggested. 'We'll just have to wait to see what baby wants to do,'

'You better have your shortlist of names ready.'

'You still want me to name her?' I asked, slightly surprised. Ella wanted to let me name the baby because of everything I had done for her, but she would have done the same back. I didn't want to take such liberties, especially not on our first child, and I wanted us to come up with a name we both wanted and agreed suited our child.

'Yeah, of course.' Ella said, fidgeting with the blanket on top of her. I scooted towards her, brushing her hair slightly.

'I have a few ideas, but I won't tell until she's here,' I joked around, but was lying. I had no idea what to name her and had no ideas either. I was totally and utterly screwed.

'Let's hope she gets a wiggle on, then,' Ella said, sighing.

Turns out, our daughter did not have 'getting a wiggle on,' on the agenda for today. Ella had continued to have the stomach aches, which probably were more uncomfortable than painful which meant she was still at one or two centimetres dilated so I had to take her into hospital at nine at night, like the midwife had arranged. Ella had gone through a battery of tests and questions, and so did I, before we were assigned our little room. The colours were calming and neutral and had a stalk on the wall carrying a white linen cloth – and the room was full of loads of birthing things (I guess). I'm not a professional but I knew you could have water births, so I guess it wasn't a Jacuzzi in the corner of the room. There were also gym balls for yoga, and Pilates mat just in case you get bored. I saw Ella eying up the weird items places in this room with slight distrust and slight amusement as she just sat cross legged on the bed, hooked up to loads of machines. One was measuring her heart rate and blood pressure, a monitor was strapped around her bump which measured the babies heart rate and blood pressure.

'Eleanor, lovely to meet you.' A friendly bubbly brunette came into the delivery suite, her hair tied back in a bun. Wearing slightly baggy blue scrubs of the hospitals uniform for midwives, she came over and shook Ella's hand, looking at the screen, before shaking mine. 'And you must be Joe, Ella's birthing partner, right?' She asked me. Ella pulled a face shrugging behind and I nodded. Sure, birthing partner sounded a barrel of fun – if I knew what that meant.

'So we have to induce you further into labour, right?' She sat down beside Ella on one of the chairs, holding her chart. I frowned, reading her name. Melissa.

'I think so, yeah.' Ella replied back, playing with the blanket that we had put on the bed hoping to calm her down.

'Okay, so when do you think you had your first contraction?'

'Probably about one in the morning today, then my waters broke about five but nothing had really happened – it's just remained the same all the way through today,' Ella said shyly.

'That's more common than you think. It doesn't cause any harm to you or the baby, but if we leave it longer than twenty four hours without significant improvement on the contractions it can lead to higher risk of infections. We might just have to give you a tiny bit of the drug used to induce people to kick start it. You might be in for a long labour, I'm afraid Ella. You're at the twenty hour mark already, which is fairly impressive, but you're barely there. You're only at two centimetres out of ten.' Melissa said sympathetically as Ella sucked her lips. 'You don't have to be administered the drug, Ella, if you're not comfortable doing so but it is recommended.'

'Will it affect the baby in any way?' Ella asked, and Melissa looked through Ella's chart.

'No, but it may cause a drop in your blood pressure. We'll monitor both you and your baby during the whole movement, and if anything goes wrong we'll get you straight into theatre for an emergency caesarean.' At the word caesarean, Ella immediately cringed back into the bed and I grabbed her hand. I knew she didn't want to be in hospital, let alone have another operation. 'It hardly ever comes to that, Ella, it's just in case.'

'Okay,' Ella nodded. 'Yeah, I'll get induced if it's the right thing to do,' Ella fessed up and Melissa nodded.

'For your sake, as well as the baby, it's the best thing to do. When it's administered it takes a few hours to kick in, and you'd have to stay in hospital I am afraid, but the baby is normally here within twenty four hours from when it gets into your blood stream,' Melissa explained as Ella flicked through the leaflet handed to her. She read what it said intently before nodded.

'Yeah, I'll do it.' Ella said again.

'Great, you're doing the right thing. I'll just go prep the medicine, don't be afraid to call me back in okay Ella?' Melissa got up before leaving the room, closing the door tightly behind her. The second the door clicked closed again, Ella fell back onto the bed, hands covering her eyes.

'Ella, you did the right thing, hun.' I reassured her, sitting on the side of the bed rubbing the space on the bump that wasn't taken up by the monitor.

'I don't want to have a c-section,' she whispered. 'I don't want to stay here. I don't want any of this to happen like this, Joe. I wanted it all to be normal.' She started to cry and I hugged her slightly awkwardly before she sat up, crying into my tshirt, her arms around my neck like she normally does.

'I know you didn't. I know you wanted it all to be normal but our daughter had different plans. It'll all be fine baby, I promise you.' I whispered to her.

'How can you promise that, you don't know what will happen.'

'Ella, hun. You know I've seen me and you with the baby, and I've seen her perfectly healthy in this exact room. Everything will work out. That I promise you,' I reassured her, rubbing her back. 'You trust me and my gift, yeah?'

'Of course I do,' Ella whispered.

'Then believe me when I promise you it'll at work out.' I held her hand, rubbing her fingers which were cold –from the weather or her gift is a question i don't know the answer too. She smiled softly, nodding at me.

'Okay,' She simply whispered, laying back down again.

'Twenty four hours, and this will all be over.' Ella said to me and I nodded. In twenty four hours we'd be parents.

 _ **Twenty four hours later,**_

 _ **7**_ _ **th**_ _ **December – 9:38pm.**_

'This is bullshit,' Ella said to me. After last night, the doctors had to double check the weight of Ella and all the other procedures that they had to do to get the right dosage. I understood but I didn't want to see Ella in pain especially as she was currently refusing to take any pain killers and was saving then for a worse stage of labour. She had remained at two centimetres until sunrise on the seventh, when the doctors said they were just finalising the medicine. Eventually at half ten in the morning, they gave her the medicine but it didn't kick in. Turned out they got the wrong dose and gave her too little. We couldn't blame Melissa, the midwife, as she had nothing to do with it and had been sent home when her shift had finished. She returned the next day for the night shift surprised to see us still here and still with no daughter or no further contractions.

'I know.' I said when the doctor had left the room after giving Ella the correct amount of medicine needed – meaning twenty four hours from now we would have our daughter. Hopefully. Ella looked completely drained and I don't blame her. She's been in labour for fourty four hours now. However, as she was still three centimetres (literally – only gone up one centimetre in a day, that's how slowly its progressing) the doctors refused to say she was in labour as they don't class early labour.

'I can't blame anyone,' Ella said and I shook my head. I could see where she was coming from; they let a med student try and work out the calculations but they didn't take into account the mass of the baby and the placenta and everything and worked it out as too little. The doctors didn't check it and just administered it and cleared the tests, thinking it was safe. The midwife didn't even know to check.

'It's still really annoying though,' I said and she nodded.

'Thing is it's not even that painful, it's just really awkward. Like the worst period pains but even worse,' Ella said, curling over on the bed to look at me.

'It'll be over soon, you won't have to do it again for a while,' I said to her, brushing her hair out from her face and she rolled her eyes.

'Not for quite a while, I hope.' Ella commented back and I raised my eyebrow. Ella always refused to talk about if she wanted more kids or not.

'Don't you want another kid after this one?' I asked her, knowing this would be the calmest and most subdue Ella would be for quite a while.

'I've wanted kids, you know that, but I never really told anyone. When I was younger, like pre-crash and then in America, you know that I was bullied. I suppose as the only girl in my family and I was always with the baby dolls and everything I was an easy target. Ever since then I didn't really tell anyone and it's become such a secret it feels weird to even be telling you. I know it's stupid,' Ella said and I shook my head to protest, but she carried on. 'I didn't think I would be ready this young, you know, and if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been able to do this. But I dunno how quickly I'd want another kid after this,' Ella mumbled.

'But you'd want another kid?'

Ella nodded. 'Yeah. I'd want either two or three children, what about you?'

'Er, the same I guess. I wouldn't mind doing the whole seven child thing as well but that's a lot of stress and pressure on you and your body, but I could totally settle for two or three,' I told her and she nodded.

'We'll see,' Ella mumbled. 'Would you care if I had a nap?'

'Of course not,' I told her, adjusting her pillows. I don't know why but that's what people do in films and television programmes. She frowned at me, wondering what I was doing but didn't mention it.

'Wake me up if you need me,' She whispered and I nodded, pulling the duvet up on her a bit further but I wouldn't take up her offer. She was in labour, for God's sake, and she offered to be woken up if I needed anything. Within seconds, Ella was asleep and not long after I was drifting asleep in my chair.

* * *

 _ **Hello! So, I've just been told that there is now an award for all Finding Sky fanfiction and they are taking nominations for any book. Whilst a small part of me would like to ask to nominate this, I feel like that would be to forceful and I don't want to make anyone feel obliged. However, this award show is across many different categories and is open for all books so please do check it out and cast your nominations and votes! The link for the forum (it's on FanFiction) is;**_ ** _topic/187591/146092870/1/#146092886 - This is a great way to find the best stories, or ones highly recommended, or promote ones that are less well noticed but are still amazing and deserve the recognition! :D_**


	71. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 70 - Joe

**Chapter 70 – Joe**

 **December 8** **th** **, 02:47am**

Finally, Ella was wheeled into the delivery room and I followed behind her. The labour had been a long, painful and tiring one, with around fifty hours between her first contraction in the extremely early hours of the sixth of December to the point she was nine and a half centimetres dilated at stupid o'clock and was ready to be taken into the delivery suite. I had never been so excited, barely able to sit still, but I hated seeing Ella in pain and this whole labour thing was taking it to new levels. I wanted to hug and comfort her but we couldn't do that. Eventually after following her bed (she protested she was more than capable of walking the midwife shot down that proposal) we reached the delivery suite.

 _What the fuck is half of this shit?_ Ella asked and I had to agree. The room was full of machines and random bits and pieces. _Holy shit, it hurts._

 _Just breathe through it honey, it'll be over soon._

 _Not soon enough._

'Ella, just try and relax,' the midwife said, but her name was unknown to both of us. She introduced herself, the midwife, to both Ella and I but we didn't know her actual name so I pray we wouldn't have to refer to her by her name. My fiancée gave me a slightly sideways look, almost like she was going "I was planning too, and then I went into labour." But pretended to do what she says.

'Now we're going to get that beautiful girl out of you,' Melissa said gently to her, touching her shoulder. 'Then you can finally go home,' she said to me, winking as she adjusted Ella's pillows. The door opened as two more midwifes wheeled in a small Perspex cot, with loads of machines attached it. Both Ella and I looked at it like it was a vial of poison.

'What's that for?'

'Just in case your baby isn't responding to the real world in a good way and we have to rush her down to the neonatal unit,' One of the new nurses/midwives, I don't know what they are, said as she plugged in the machine. Ella looked at me in horror, and I couldn't quite hide my fear. 'It's just a precaution,' the midwife told us, 'we have to bring it in for every baby born before 35 weeks – but you are on that 35 week barrier, and she's a fighter, she'll be fine,'

An hour later, Ella was ready to start pushing. A whole haggle of doctors were now in the room as Ella was starting to lose blood and was already on her first blood transfusion. The doctors had prepped a theatre room for her just in case she needed an emergency c-section if she lost any more blood. It was clear to see everyone in the room was tense and it didn't help I lost all control of my gift and was able to read their thoughts. Ella was also on the edge of having another panic attack – her seventh one since coming into hospital. I stood next to her, rubbing her frozen hand. The doctors also didn't miss the fact Ella was freezing which is probably why there is so many of them and the thickness of the blanket. Many said it was the snow outside that probably was making Ella cold, but I knew the real story.

'Okay Ella, you're gunna have to start pushing with your next contraction – do you understand?' The patronising midwife asked her and Ella just looked slightly out of it. I knew what was happening. She was so tired that she kept accidently projecting. I nudged her slightly.

'Yeah, okay, sorry,' Ella muttered.

'You have to stay with it honey,' Melissa said, touching her knee.

After ten or so minutes of pushing and screams and blood and doctor's versus midwifes who wanted to take her to theatre, the others said it's fine just to let her carry on, the baby had finally decided to make an appearance. The midwives told Ella they could see her head and a few more pushes and the ordeal would be over. They even invited me to come down and have a look which I had to greatfully decline because I hate blood and everything else, Ella knew this and laughed slightly, but looked shattered. Honestly, I didn't blame her. The hospital said it was one of the longest labours they have had in years, and it's weird because we didn't fall into any categories which they expected longer labour. Ella – bless her – didn't look her best either. Covered in sticky sweat, greasy hair, and she just looked so tired and done. She kept telling me how she couldn't do this, then I had to reassure her completely, then after one push it was the same cycle over again.

'Ella, you are doing absolutely brilliantly doll, she's nearly here. We need you to push one more time,' Melissa said to her and she nodded. 'It's important it's a big push this time, baby is starting to look a bit grey,'

'Is she okay?' Ella immediately asked.

'She'll be fine – we just need to clear out her lungs of any fluid and get her to start crying. Babies always cry when they're fine,' Melissa reassured Ella and she nodded slightly. We both knew that – that's why they always show it in films and on TV. If the baby cries it symbolises everything is perfectly okay.

'Ready Ella?'

'Yeah, let's do this.' She said, flopping her head back. By the looks of it she will not want any more children any time soon.

'That's it – push!' The nurse said and everyone in the room held their breath. 'Hello there baby girl Matthews!' Melissa said, putting our daughter straight up onto Ella's stomach for a few seconds before taking her away.

'Born at 4:14am, congratulations, you two are now parents,' Melissa said, doing some things under the blanket between Ella's legs that both of us really didn't want to ask about. I knew it was something to do with the afterbirth but seeing the amount of blood and other crap that had just come out of my fiancee's body I was feeling incredibly light headed and sick.

Ella and I smiled at each other and her face lit up like the sun. I kissed her gently, but we were interrupted by the midwives and doctors and nurses all speaking at the same time. Three or four of them crowded around our baby, another two around Ella, Melissa still working on Ella.

'Can you get me another three units of O negative, please, we've got a ruptured haemorrhage.' Melissa said to one of the nurses, who ran out the room.

'What's going on?' I asked, keeping an eye on Melissa but having to look away when the sheets turned an interesting shade of crimson. I looked up to see four people around the baby, cutting the cord down smaller and pegging it, weighing her and opening her mouth. But there was something missing.

'Ella's bleeding out quite a bit from the birth – we know she had that bleed when you were in Devon and it's similar to that apart from there's nothing stopping it. We can apply pressure until the afterbirth is out and then fix it, or force the afterbirth out now and get it all done as soon as we can,' The midwife looked up at Ella.

'Do it now.' Ella muttered, finally coming around a bit more. 'Wait, why is she not crying?'

I looked up realising that was exactly what was missing – our baby was not crying and remained silent on the side table in the delivery room. The nurses, doctors and midwives didn't stop what they were doing to answer our question.

'Why is she not crying?' Ella asked again.

'Ella, we need you to calm down. They're doing all they can for your baby, you need to stay with me.'

'What's wrong with her, you can't just not tell us!' Ella protested as I stood like a fish out of water, gaping at Ella, the blood, and our daughter who was still a bluey-grey shade. The doctors moved her into the space like Perspex cot before wheeling her out the room, still unresponsive.


	72. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 71 - Joe

Chapter 71 – Joe

Forty minutes.

Forty agonising minutes was how long it took for the midwives to get back to us to let us know our baby was completely fine and would very soon be coming back up to the room so we could see her and hold her for the first time. I understood that they had to take her away to make sure she was okay, as she wasn't crying when she came out and she wasn't breathing very well so they had to rush her down into neonatal, but since then she hasn't _stopped crying_ and has been given the all clear on all other issues the premature age could have causes so they've discharged her from neonatal and back into the maternity wards hands, which means she gets to stay with Ella.

It also took three midwives and two doctors forty minutes to stabilise Ella, stop the bleeding after the afterbirth and do some other shit that neither of us understood but agreed too. Ella had reached hysteria as no one was telling us where our daughter was or if she was okay. But finally the news came up from neonatal saying they're moving our baby back to us and they're happy that she's completely fine.

We were left in the same maternity ward as we did when we came in. I sat next to Ella, who was sitting cross legged on the bed.

'You did it,' I whispered to her and she shrugged with one shoulder. I pulled the blanket around her shoulders as she yawned.

'Mmm, but she's not here,' Ella weakly protested, and I knew if she wasn't so tired she would be storming down into neonatal to get our daughter herself. Faintly in the hallway we heard the sound of a newborn crying, and it was coming towards us. Ella looked up at me, the biggest grin covering her face as I bent down to kiss her.

'Thank the Lord you two are still awake; this missy has not stopped crying since she left.' The bubbly nurse came back in again, pushing a tiny Perspex cot but it didn't have any machines. Just clear plastic four sides, no roof to it and had a fluffy pink blanket on the bottom. The nurse, who was in the room for her birth, gently picked up and handed our daughter over to Ella.

I looked down at our daughter and my breath was immediately taken down. First things first, the baby was so small that Ella could hold her in just one arm perfectly but she was born at a good weight; six pounds four and a bit ounces. Whilst her slightly chubby face was red from crying, her blue eyes, which to me looked like they had a bit of green in them too, were shining. I was absolutely astonished to see how much the baby looked like Ella, which meant she was beautiful. The baby, however, stopped crying immediately when Ella held her and just looked up at both of us, completely silent.

'Well, would you look at that. You two are naturals.' The nurse said to us. 'You got a name for her yet?'

'Er, not yet.' I told the nurse and she nodded.

'Take your time, we'll call her baby girl Benedict-Matthews,' The nurse said.

'Just Matthews,' Ella said softly, not taking her eyes off her daughter. I looked at her, amazed at how close Ella and I had become and still amazed that she was my Soulfinder, my fiancée and the mother of my child. What did I do to ever deserve her?

'Just Matthews it is then.' The nurse winked at us, moving the cot over to the other side of the bed. Ella smiled softly, leaning her head onto me as I put my arm around her shoulders, my other hand under hers where she held the baby. 'She's beautiful, just like her parents. You rest up now, you hear. Just call me if you need anything,' and with that the nurse was out of the room.

'She's beautiful, just like you,' I whispered softly watching the babies eyes go to me, making a little cute noise which I just wanted to aww at but realised that wasn't a good thing to do. Ella smiled more, wiping away a tear with her free hand.

'I know it sounds stupid, but I can see you in her. She's not even an hour old yet.' Ella laughed under her breath, brushing something off our daughters eyebrow and she made another noise, which was almost laughter but wasn't. 'It's so surreal.' Ella said softly.

'I know,' I muttered gently. It really was. One second, we had just met, the next second we were together. Then we found out Ella was expecting, move in together, got engaged, moved out again and now our daughter was here. From now on, I will always be a Dad. Ella will always be a Mum.

'What are you going to name her?' Ella gently asked and even our daughter looked at me expectantly.

'You still want me to name her?' I asked. I thought I'd come up with some good names when she was in labour but I didn't even think about it. Ella nodded, not even annoyed I hadn't pulled out a list. If it was the other way around, I would expect her to have some kind of notebook with the pro's and con's of each proposed name, ready for her to argue her favourites.

'Better be a good and meaningful one,' Was all Ella said.

I frowned, looking at my daughter in front of me. What would I name her? I knew some names I wouldn't mind but I wanted it to be meaningful. I wanted it to have a hidden meaning, something only Ella and I would understand. I thought back to our trip to Cornwall, in the early days. When I first realised how much I loved her – when we was in Sainsbury's and she was lying to Felicity. I sighed, before mumbling my answer.

'What about Lily?' I asked her and Ella looked up at me smiling. She understood the reference, and grinned entirely nodding.

'Lily,' she said, testing the name out. 'Hello Lily,' Ella said gently, and Lily grabbed hold of Ella's finger and my heart stopped for a moment. Ella took a staggered breath, trying to keep her emotions under control before she nodded. 'Yeah, I like Lily.'

'Definitely Lily?'

'Lily Matthews, born 8th December at stupidly early in the morning.' Ella said, and Lily gurgled again in her arms., starting to already fall asleep.

* * *

And we welcome Lily to the story! I have been waiting to put this chapter up for ages, and I think most of you have been looking forward to seeing what their baby would be named too!

Also, because I put this up I can start with the sequel; Shattering Lucy, which has Lily, Ella and Joe all in it but a bit older, and focuses on Jason, Joe's best friend. The link is;

s/11753419/1/Shattering-Lucy


	73. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 72 - Ella

**Chapter 72 – Ella**

10:11am, 8th December.

I lay on my side, floating in between sleep mode and fully awake mode. Lily, our daughter who is just under six hours old, was now fast asleep in her little Perspex cot, her first feed over and done with and surprisingly she took to the bottle feeding rather well. It was amazing how much you could love someone who had only known for a few hours – only existed for a fraction of your life could mean so much and how devoted you could become to them. I could only think back to my life with Joe when we first got together, and how we were joined at the hip and I couldn't imagine going back to anyone apart from him. He was mine, and I loved him so much that I didn't even want to admit to myself.

'Ella, I thought you were asleep,' Joe sighed, walking back over to my side of the bed. He tucked both my phone and his phone back into his pockets, sitting down on the chair next to me.

'Got some cute ones?' I asked, nodding towards the phones.

'Yeah,' Joe said, leaning forward to brush some hair out of my face.

'We haven't told anyone, have we?' I said, realising we agreed not to tell anyone until it to the juicer stages of labour, but then we completely forgot no one knew. It was only now that Lily was here we both realised that all of our family and friends had absolutely no idea in the slightest. We had replied to the normal text messages and everything when we could just missing out the whole "I'm in labour" part.

'No,' Joe said softly, but was looking over me.

'You really can't get over her, can you?' I whispered and he gently smiled at me, shaking his head. He quickly got up and wheeled Lily's cot over to my side where I was laying. I couldn't get over it, either. I joked that Joe couldn't but I was caught in the same cycle. Lily was asleep, her adorable chubby face peaking out the swaddle of blankets she was in, her lips slightly parted.

'Stop taking pictures of me,' I joked as I gently put my hand in the crib, fiddling with Lily's blanket but I know Joe still took a photo. 'Can I have my phone?' I asked Joe, and he came to sit down on the edge of my bed as I struggled to sit up, still in a lot of pain. It was to be expected, though, I just pushed a baby out of me. Joe quickly moved forward to help me.

'You okay?' Joe asked, rubbing my leg.

'Yeah, yeah I'm okay.'

'Promise me?'

'Yeah, I'm just sore.' I owned up to Joe and he nodded. Joe wasn't exactly a man who speaks a lot, a man of little words, but his gestures meant a lot to me. Just the way he smiles and lets me lean against him, his arm gently rubbing the top of my arm may seem simplistic means everything. It's him silently letting me know he won't let go of me. Even now, with his hand on my thigh as he looks at our daughter it's almost like he's telling me he won't leave me or the baby. He pulled out my phone, handing it to me.

'Who you going to tell?' He asked softly as Lily made a cute little noise in her sleep. Joe's face softened completely and I had a feeling if he had a chance he would happily hold for the entire week and not let go of her. I wanted to do the exact same, though.

'The girls,' I whispered and he nodded, crawling up the bed to sit next to me as I opened our Whatsapp group with Sky, Phee and Crystal.

 _ **Anyone up?**_ I text into the group, leaving it for a moment until I saw that someone was typing.

 _ **Am now, what's up?**_ Sky replied almost immediately. I frowned, then realised she always put her phone in vibrate when she sleeps, compared to Phee and Crystal who sleep with theirs on silent. They all agreed they would leave their phones on vibrate near the due date so they don't miss the news about Lily. But it wasn't near the due date.

I quickly went into my camera's photoroll, and saw an adorable photo of me – who was a mess – holding Lily with Joe sitting beside me smiling down at us both. I didn't realise the nurse had took the picture, the whole thing was a blur, but I was so happy the nurse captured the picture. I uploaded the photo so it was ready to send, before adding a caption " **you're all Aunts now!"** Before sending it off. It took a few minutes to send through, but Sky replied immediately.

 **Ella! Congratulations! When did this all happen?**

 **Went into labour a few days ago when I text you stupidly early in the morning – remember that – then my waters broke but nothing actually progressed so I was induced further and she was born 4:18am this morning, she had a few breathing problems from being so early but she's fine now.** I explained.

 **She is the cutest thing ever! Does she have a name yet?**

I smiled up at Joe, and he kissed the top of my nose. He nudged the phone.

 _Go on, tell the world._ He said softly, smiling into my hair.

 **Yeah, meet Lily Matthews. She doesn't have a middle name yet. We're working on it, give it time. Also, you're the first person who knows. We didn't tell anyone that I was in labour, and now we don't quite know how to tell anyone.**

 **Zed says congratulations, is stupidly excited and happy and is currently looking up when the first flight to England is!**

 **Bless him, I'm going to sleep now. I'm shattered. If you need me try and get hold of Joe.**

I shut down my phone, the urge to sleep for several years hit me. I handed my phone over to my fiancé, who just frowned at me as I slouched into him even further.

'You okay?' He asked, arm around my shoulders.

'Shattered,' I whispered, tearing up slightly as I leant against him. 'I know it's stupid. You must be tired too,' I muttered knowing how unfair it was for him as well.

'Are you crying? Ella, come here you muppet. You've just given birth to our beautiful daughter, went thought the longest labour ever like an absolute legend, I mean how long was it from your waters broke? Like two days? You barely slept at all, and you're still awake now. Go to sleep, I'll still be here when you wake up. I'll text your brothers and parents to call me –'

As he said that his phone rang. He pulled it out from under the cover and sure enough it was Michael's caller ID. I looked at Joe panicked for a second as he pulled a face.

'You want to tell him?' Joe said, handing me his phone.

'We have to,' I took his phone, squinting, my eyes feeling heavy. 'Then I'm going to sleep – if you don't mind,'

'Of course I don't mind you muppet,'

I swiped the answer key on Joe's iPhone, holding the phone to my ear. Remaining silent, I heard Michael typing on the other side of the phone before realising we had picked up.

'Joe, where are you and Ella? You're meant to be in work today aren't you?' Michael asked.

'Sup,' was all I replied and I heard him tut.

'Ella why are you answering your fiancées phone but turned your off,' He tutted at me. May as well come out and say it.

'Er, you're an Uncle now,' Was all I said.

'Repeat that again,' Joe frowned at me.

'You're an Uncle now, I had the baby. Open your ears a bit, love.' I replied back.

'Really! When was this!' Michael said, and I heard a chair scrape back.

'Er, 4:18am this morning. I was in labour for like two days – have to stay in for a few days too. Can you tell Susan?' I asked him, rubbing my eyes.

'Of course, can I come visit you?'

'Yeah, if I'm asleep you're not waking me up though. We're in Royal Berks maternity ward, just text one of us – probably Joe – when you're in reception as we have to pick you up.'

'I'll be there as soon as I can, Ella, but congratulations both of you. Has the baby got a toy? Wait – has she got a name yet?' Michael asked, and I heard the signature beep of the Maui swipecards as you leave a room.

'Er, yeah, it's Lily.' I replied gently.

'That's adorable. I'll be about an hour or so and then I'll see you, Joe and Lily. Love you,' Michael said and I heard yet another beep.

'Love you too,' I whispered, hanging up on Michael as Joe grinned at me like the Cheshire cat.

'He seemed happy,' Joe said, getting out of bed, letting me lay down and curl onto my side so I could watch Lily as well as him. He gently pulled the blankets up, holding my hand.

'I hope he is,' I said back, yawning.

'He is, honey, we all are. You need your sleep, though. I'll wake you up if anything interesting happens, okay?'Joe said to me, still holding my hand. I thought how tired Joe must be as well, as he stayed up with me since my contractions started only accidently falling asleep for a few hours here and there but he still put me first. His brown hair was unkempt but was still fluffing around and he had a tight fitting grey shirt and a pair of jeans on. I noticed some of the midwives check him out – and then the absolute state of me – and wondered how we were together. Honestly, I do the exact same thing. But I never want to piss off Joe again. He was my everything, and so was Lily now, and I never wanted anything to change.

* * *

Hello! It's been a while, and for that I am truly sorry. I've been so swamped with work, school runs for my little sister and writing a backlog of chapters I actually forgot to update! So a few things have happened since whenever the last Author's Note;

\- Deluding Ella is a thing and follows Ella from meeting Sky for the first time in 2011, when Finding Sky was set, to three days before the start of Capturing Ella. It includes all the Benedict's, Jake and Michael, and what people requested as well; Joe in this awkward nineteen year old phase. The link to Deluding Ella is; s/11731117/1/Deluding-Ella

\- Shattering Lucy; the second in the trilogy (remember that!) of these books has also started. It follows Jason, Joe's best friend and Ella's friend and Lucy, a girl who's suffered emotional abuse and violence throughout her childhood. Now, when a threat shuts down the Net as a mass murder prows through the most valuable members of the Net, will Jason get it together to save Lucy, as well as his family? The link is here; s/11753419/1/Shattering-Lucy

\- Finding Sky Fanfiction awards; a wonderful human has made an award for the entirety of Finding Sky Fanfiction section with over 22 awards. IT's an amazing chance for you all to vote for your favourite books for a variety of categories. The link for more information is here, or P.M. BookMove or more informaton; topic/187591/146092870/1/The-Finding-Sky-Fanfiction-awards-2016 and whilst it would be brilliant to actually get through to voting for one of these awards; I don't really mind if I don't win, it would mean so much. However, there are so many good fanfictions out there so vote for the ones you love and it would help bring together the community.

\- As mentioned earlier; this is part of a trilogy. I know - shocking. Capturing Ella is of course the first book, Shattering Lucy will be the second and there is a third one already in planning! The third book will follow around two individuals meeting their two Soulfinders. Who are these two, well, one was announced earlier and will be Ella's brother Michael, and the second; drum roll please! - is Joe's brother Quinn. The story line is coming together but will remain vague apart from the odd spoiler I may drop. Sorry.

\- There may be some other mini books coming out as well, depending on how much time I have. I have got into my university I want too so I will be heading back into school in September to study psychology and criminology and I have my driving test coming up as well. However, working by yourself behind a till counter can be very dull and have come up with some interesting ideas for short stories, so look out for them when they arrive. Other's have requested to do a Zed's perspective of Finding Sky, which I know has been done, but what do you think? Also, if you have any suggestions for any short stories, I will be more than willing to here them.

I think that's all! Thank you guys so much for reading, following and reviewing, it really does mean a lot :)


	74. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 73 - Joe

**Chapter 73 – Joe**

Four hours later, and I had told all of my family about Lily and everyone seemed over the moon. Thankfully, more for the sake of the hospital and Ella as well as Lily, most agreed to see the baby when we come out of hospital rather than swamp the maternity unit. Only Jake and Leannah, and Quinn were coming to the ward tomorrow so it gives Ella time to rest. Michael was the only one coming today, and he was so late because he was sorting out my paternity leave and Ella's maternity leave and then popped into town to get Lily a toy and some balloons or something.

I smiled softly, sitting down next to Ella looking at her. She was sound asleep, still on her side where Lily's cot was as she fell asleep. It had been moved to the other side of the room, just in case Lily would wake up, it wouldn't wake Ella up. That was the plan, anyway. Honestly, I was never so proud of anyone in my life. Ella had gone through so much in her life and I always wondered how much of a fighter she was –and then she went to prove that by being in labour for days and then giving birth without too much of a fuss. Not only that, she hurt herself pretty badly and there was so much blood and stitches and other gross things that I wasn't entirely sure what was what and what was meant to stay in and come out but she didn't care. She just wanted to make sure her daughter was okay, and kept checking up on me too as she knew I didn't like blood. My fiancée, who was bleeding out, was making sure I was okay and wasn't about to faint.

Across the room, I heard a small little murmur from Lily and walked straight over to her cot looking in at her fragile body. Because she was premature, she was still tiny but everything was okay with her once they cleared the fluids out of her lungs. She was a hell of a crier and had a big pair of lungs on her but she didn't really cry since she's been in the room with us. The midwives tried to let her stay with us as much as possible as the second she left the room without us she would wake up and tear the place down with her cries – but in the room she was completely fine as long as we were around. I had a suspicion it could be her Savant gift but she's not even twelve hours old yet, I couldn't be just assuming that. However, it was a known fact she was a Savant and considering that both Ella and I were seventh children, and Ella was from a strong Savant family to start with we could only assume that Lily would grow up to be a very powerful Savant too. We just had to teach her right from wrong.

Lily looked up at me, her bright blue eyes shining as she done something funny with her mouth and I grinned at her.

'Hello Lily,' I whispered to her, gently picking her up. Her tiny body fitted perfectly in the crook of my elbow, her neck resting on my arm as her feet came down to just above my wrist and that was also accounting for the blankets. 'Mummy's still asleep,' I said, finding it slightly weird I was talking to my daughter who did not know what I was saying, but still made those happy little baby noises newborns make when they're content. 'She'll be up soon – are you hungry?'

Checking the door, I quickly added some formula milk to an empty feeding bottle, adding in the milk and warming it up all telekinetically as I reorganised the blankets on Lily, gently bending my knees to pick up Lily's first toy; a small fluffy green dinosaur Ella saw in one of the shops in Reading and fell in love with. I think she would have gotten it for herself if I didn't stop her, and then protested it was for the baby whilst I remained sceptical. Only when we got into hospital with Ella's contractions did I realise I forgot to pack a toy for Lily, but Ella had already thought ahead and hid the dinosaur toy in the boot. Better than nothing, I agreed to give it to her as her first toy. I rested the toy on Lily's stomach as I grabbed the bottle, checking it was the correct temperature almost like it was a natural thing. I sat down on one of the three chairs in the room, watching Lily intently as she drunk the small amount of milk in the bottle. I just couldn't believe someone so small was actually living and was my daughter. This time last year I was just starting Maui thinking Soulfinder's aren't a real thing and I would be doomed to be alone. And now, I have found my absolutely gorgeous Soulfinder, asked her to marry me and she agreed and we have a child. I just couldn't get my head around it.

Lily didn't take long to finish the small bottle, but she didn't fall back to sleep after I burped her and settled her down. She remained awake, just looking around almost like she was fascinated by the world. My phone vibrated in my pocket, and with Lily settled in one arm I pulled my phone out with the other and looked at the message that had just come through; a simple text from Michael saying he's in the lobby. Triple checking Ella was still asleep, I carried Lily out into the hallway and down, pushing the button into the waiting room.

Michael sat in the corner, wearing just a black tee and a pair of jeans but I saw the nurses checking him out. He got up when he saw me, holding a paper bag in his hand.

'Is he okay just to come through?' I asked the nurses on the front desk and they both nodded not taking their eyes of Michael.

'How's Ella doing?' Michael asked, walking through the door before noticing I was holding something in my arms. 'Wait, is this...?'

'Your niece, yeah,' I replied back and Michael just stopped in the middle of the hallway, losing all his colour. 'You okay – you've gone really pale? Look, sit down for a second,' I said, walking into Ella's room as Lily made a little noise. Michael followed mutely behind, sitting down on the chair.

'Joe?' Ella whispered having just woken up from her nap. She rubbed her eyes, rolling over slightly.

'Hey,' I said gently.

'Where's Lily, is she okay?' Ella said, starting to panic when she noticed the cot was empty.

'She's fine, I've got here, look.' Ella sat up quickly in the bed wincing slightly before I handed Lily over to her.

'When did he get there?' Ella asked, nodding to Michael in the corner who was still looking ominously pale and staring off into nowhere. I guess some deal with the news that their younger sister of who they are deadly protective after has just given birth better than others.

'Just now – he's having some sort of crisis. He went that colour when he saw Lily,' I explained as Lily gurgled as Ella tiggled her tummy. I smiled down at the baby.

'How...' Was all Michael could say, looking at us.

'How much detail would you like, bro?' Ella said back over to him and he just shook his head, palm held out towards us. 'You going to come over here and hold your niece or sit there like an idiot for the next hour or so?'

With that, Michael stood up and opened the bag he had in his hand. He pulled out some chocolates and put them on the bedside cabinet of the hospital ward before pulling out a small fluffy teddy which had a cream shirt on it with "Lily" embroidered onto it.

'When did you have time to make that?' I asked him and Ella nudged me.

'Joe, hun, he didn't sit there and knit it,' Ella said to me gently and I nodded.

'I went to a shop and they had the service there. Took a bit longer than I thought but... can I hold her?' Michael asked, standing on Ella's side of the bed but not once did he take his eyes of Lily, and Lily continued to look at him slightly confused. Ella kind of held Lily up and Michael took her. It took him a few second to realise how to hold her properly and he laughed under his breath.

'Oh, she's so cute! Hello, Lily.' Michael cooed at her, and as he carried on speaking I spoke quietly to Ella.

'How do you feel now?'

'Good, actually. Just really sore now, but that's to be expected right? Have you told everyone?' She asked, and I shrugged.

'I've told all your brothers, sent them a Whatsapp with the picture on. Only Uri and Yves have said anything and they both said congratulations and Yves is flying out tonight in Colorado times with Phee to come and see you and Uri said he'll come over when he can get the day off from work. All your other brothers are still asleep. I've also asked your parents to call me when they are awake so we can tell them that way.' I explained, tracing a pattern on her knee and she nodded.

'What about your side?'

'I called Mum and Dad and they were so excited but want to wait until you both are home as they know how swamped and draining it can be in hospital. Carly is coming down from Leeds at the weekend to come and see you, I think Alfie might be coming down next weekend. Randy doesn't know and won't know either. Rian might pop in tomorrow to see us and I haven't told Quinn or Jake yet either.'

'You haven't told Jake?'

'I was getting around to it then Lily woke up for a feed.' I explained.

'Call him now,' Ella prompted.

'I can't when your brothers here!' I hissed.

'Why not? He's clearly occupied for the next few hours or so.' Ella laughed and I turned around. Michael was still holding Lily like she was some life force and he was a dying man. He was quietly mumbling to her whilst Lily looked up still making those cute newborn baby noises to him, holding his finger.

'You sure he won't mind?'

'We've been talking about him for a while now and he still hasn't noticed. Believe me, he won't care – will you Michael?' Ella called out to her brother, and he turned around.

'Did you say something?' He asked, turning around to look at Ella for half a second before Lily made another adorable noise and Michael re-adverted his attention to the baby.

'No, you carry on talking rubbish to my daughter,' Ella said, rolling her eyes. 'If you don't call Jake and Quinn, I will.'

'Fine, I'm on it!' I protested, before looking at her. 'Will text do?'

'No, get your ass on that phone,' Ella urged, nicking my phone and dialing Jake before I even had a chance to protest. On the third ring it clicked over.

'Okay, so you and Elsiepoo was meant to be in today, you two did a no show and suddenly Michael left without a word to anyone apart from Susan who is very happy. What has happened – I have a guess.' Jake told me.

'Guess is probably correct, you're an uncle now,' I told him biting my lip.

'Wait, seriously? I was only joking?' Jake said.

'No, Ella had the baby in the early hours of this morning. We were just working around calling everyone and Lily woke up before I got around to calling you so it's slightly delayed. But yeah, 4:18 this morning you became an Uncle,' I told Jake, grinning down at Ella as I kissed her gently.

'You said Lily – did you call the baby Lily?'

'Yeah,'

'That is the cutest thing ever. Is she and Ella all okay and everything?'

'Yeah, Lily had trouble breathing when she was born but she's fine now. Ella just tired and sore but she'll be good too.' I said, and Ella smiled up at me so affectionately it made my heart melt. I looked over at Michael, who was still mumbling to Lily. 'Michael has lost it slightly – you going to come visit her?'

'Am I allowed too? Check with Ella first,' Jake said.

'El, can Jake come up here to visit Lily?' I asked her and she nodded. 'She said yeah,' I replied back on the phone.

'Okay, I'll leave work now. I'll be there in about an hour or so – will that be okay?' Jake asked, and I nodded then realised he couldn't see me.

'Fine, yeah. See you then,'

'See you then, and congrats to you both,'


	75. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 74 - Ella

**Chapter 74 - Ella**

'Welcome home, Lily.' Joe said softly as he unlocked the front, the Nike holdall that had once contained all the items from Cornwall but now all the baby stuff placed on his shoulder, as Lily slept in the car seat which I was holding. I grinned at Joe, leaning forward to kiss him as the door swung open. As we got in, Joe closed the door quietly behind me as I put the carrier down on the floor, and Joe dropped down the holdall. Double checking Lily was still asleep Joe came across the hallway over to me, putting his arms straight around my waist as I put my head on his chest, leaning against of it.

'You alright, love?' Joe whispered to me as I nodded, but my eyes were already dragging together.

'Yeah,'

'You lie,' Joe laughed gently at me as he kissed the top of my head. 'You're shattered aren't you?'

'Yeah – but so are you.' I protested, realising that Joe had always made me rest even though he had only napped on chairs in my maternity room on the ward. Joe gave me a slightly weird look, pulling back from the hug but keeping his hands on my waists.

'Yes, but, which one of us just pushed that –' He gestured to Lily, who was still asleep. God that child could sleep through the end of the world. '-out of us, and now has hormones rushing through them that doesn't even make sense, because it sure isn't me. You have every reason to be tired, love.' Joe whispered to me and I teared up, shrugging. 'Should we get her settled down into bed, and sleep ourselves?'

'Good plan,' I whispered as Joe walked over to the car chair, gently crouching down. After a sudden urge, I pulled out my phone and started to silently record him. Moving slowly as to not wake her, he unbuckled the harness, gently picking her up. For a brief moment she woke up, look a quick look at Joe, squinting, but went back to sleep soon after. Joe gently held Lily still for a second, picking up the small blanket she had over her and the toy dinosaur as he turned around to look at me.

'What are you doing,' he laughed softly, running his free hand through his hair before picking up the dinosaur where it was slipping. 'Come on then,' Joe said, but to me or Lily I couldn't decide. I trailed him up the stairs where he went into Lily's nursery, and I grinned the entire way up there. Slowly, Joe opened the door with his elbow, too focused on the sleeping baby in his arms to use his telekinetic powers.

We walked into Lily's nursery, both of us grinning the entire time as Joe gently put her into her cot, Joe gently folding up the blanket correctly and placing it on top of her. I stopped the recording, putting my phone on the side of the changing table, walking over to the cot as Joe put his arm around me.

'She looks so much like you,' Joe whispered to me, nuzzling my hair.

'This is only like the fifth time you've seen me and I haven't been pregnant.' I said gently and Joe frowned down at me.

'What do you mean?'

'First time we met, then race for life, then the party where we made her. Every time after that until I gave birth I was pregnant, wasn't I?' I commented and he looked at me.

'Oh shit, yeah.'

'Don't swear in front of her,' I said softly.

'Sorry,' Joe whispered, wrapping his arms around me, standing behind me so we can look down at our daughter, fast asleep on her little bed. I think it's safe to say both Joe and I only have the vaguest idea of what to do now Lily is here, but we'd learn eventually. From what Joe's Mum, and Karla, have told us they let all their kids sleep in their own bedrooms from the moment they brought them home although many books don't recommend it. We had working baby monitors, so it should be absolutely fine. Not only that, Lily has an incredibly loud cry and I'm an incredibly light sleeper so we should be absolutely fine.

'It's just – insane,' Joe said, leaning forward to move the dinosaur out of the way. 'Come on love, let's go sleep,'

'I don't want to leave her,' I said softly.

'She'll be fine, she'll still be here when we wake up,' Joe said softly, kissing my ear.

'Mm,' I said and Joe gently picked me up in his arms like he was used to doing, kissing my cheek.

'I love you so much,' Joe whispered into my hair as he carried me into the bedroom, before pulling back the cover telekinetically, laying me down. 'You did a brilliant job, love.' He said, gently pushing my fringe out the way.

'I love you too,' I whispered as he got into bed next to me. I rolled over, putting my leg over his like I normally do as he held his arm out so I can crawl onto his chest for a hug – the way I used to be able to do before my bump got a bit too big. He gently rubbed the top of my arm sweetly, kissing my forehead as I snuggled into him a bit more. 'I've missed this,' Joe mumbled.

'Miss what?'

'The huggy you – the part of you that is more than content with hugs all the time,' Joe laughed to himself gently as I curled up into him again.

'Mm,'

'Go to sleep baby,' Joe gently whispered into my hair and it only took his gentle instruction for me to fall asleep there and then.

About three hours later, I woke up. Even though I was absolutely tired – even more than I was before I started sleeping, I couldn't go back to sleep. I laid on Joe's chest, like I normally do with him hugging me in his sleep. I looked up at Joe, a smile spreading across my face as I watched him sleeping. His hair was flopping everywhere, lips slightly parted but kept a light grip on my shoulder where he hugged me. Despite him proteting he wasn't tired from the week or so we spent in hospital; the day when I was in labour, the day that Lily was born and the three days he had barely slept; sure, he had napped on the chairs or when we shared the bed when Lily was down in the nursery but not nearly as much as I did. And here I was, panicking he would hate being a parent and leave me the second it meant commitment, and he spent the first few days of Lily's life constantly watching over her, holding her and feeding here. There was hesitation at the beginning, when he didn't want to hold her but after that he wouldn't stop. I was completely wrong to fear anything.

Slowly I wiggled out of Joe's arms, making sure he was still asleep as I flinched slightly getting up. I never realised giving birth would be this painful this side of the labour. I got up, triple checking Joe was still asleep – and sound asleep he was – before I crept out of the bedroom, around the corner and into Lily's nursery.

I stood over the cot, looking at Lily. She was still fast asleep, laying on her back but her head facing towards the room and arms by her head. I am not being bias; but she was absolutely perfect.

I was unaware of how much time had passed. The only indication that time had passed at all was Lily waking up for a few minutes, before heading off to sleep again.

'Ella?' Joe whispered and I jumped. He had managed to creep into the room, standing beside me. I saw Michael hovering behind him. 'Sorry, love,' Joe said, standing behind me and hugging me. 'You've been watching over her for over two hours now – is everything okay?'

'Two hours?' I whispered back.

'Yeah, I woke up and you were in here and I went back to bed. I've only got up because he came,' Joe said, nodding to Michael in the door who continued to look around the nursery.

'Michael – you okay?' I asked him.

'Er, yeah, I brought chocolates and more toys.' Michael said, coming into the room a bit more. 'When did either of you two had time to do this?'

'When we went up to Glasgow for three days, she got a bit bored,' Joe explained as Michael came up to us and looked into the cot, sighing slightly.

'You got a bit bored and did all of this?' Michael said, laughing at me slightly as I frowned at him.

'How dare you,' I laughed back as Lily woke up and started to cry. 'How dare you wake her up too?' I commented and Michael just looked shocked. I bent into the cot, picking up Lily amazed at how light she is an she immediately stopped crying, looking at me and putting her tiny hand near her mouth.

'Er, Karla called me earlier – she's booked a flight for two days time with all the boys. Good luck,' Michael joked, smiling at me, Lily and Joe. This is what I always wanted; a family who never expected too much but will always be there. I never thought this was how my first year out of school would end up like, but I was so thankful that I had found Joe and had Lily. Both of them had turned from potentials of a fairy-tale like story to reality and I never wanted them to leave.


	76. (Releasing Joe Chapter 75 - Ella

**Chapter 75 – Ella**

 _Three days later._

'You're going to have to put her down eventually, Joe,' I said, walking around the corner into the lounge where Joe laid on the sofa, the TV on but with no volume and with Lily resting on his chest. After practically begging the nurses and midwives and the doctors, they finally allowed me and my baby to be discharged from medical care but under the orders that if anything looks or feels wrong with both of us to get our arses back into the hospital. I was completely certain nothing would happen so we packed our stuff, and with Lily in her car seat we headed away from the hospital and the half an hour car journey home – and I was still astonished at how well Lily was behaving. Hardly ever she would cry when she was around either me or Joe. The second she was taken away from us – either to have some more examinations or to head to the nursery – she would scream the place down, crying nonstop until she was back with us. And then, she remained perfectly calm and bouncy. Even when she wanted changing or a bottle, she would cry for a minute or two, just to get our attention so we were near her and then stop crying. Even the nurses said she was such a perfectly behaved baby which was weird. However, a phone call to a very excited Karla provided some answers to my questions.

After the whole bubble and talking her through how to buy airline tickets to Heathrow online and then how to get back to ours (she refused to let one of us pick her up so we could both be with the baby) I asked her why Lily was so calm around us. Karla explained when she had the boys they were always calm when they were using their gifts. Savant babies actively seek out their parents gifts and would find them calming. It all depended on what type of gift Lily would have, though, as to how she responded. When Lily was still forming inside me, there was stage that determined what gift she had and we wouldn't find it out until she started showing the signs but Karla guessed it was something along the lines of seeing emotions or seeing the past. She was so calm around Joe and myself because we had loved her for so long but the nurses only cared about her because she was a patient to her. Lily of course wanted to be around the people who loved her the most, so would sulk her ass off when she wasn't with us. It would also explain why she was so happy with Jake and Michael and Yves and Phee when they came over into the hospital, as they cared about her as long as they knew she existed. However, when a handful of Joe's friends from Sixth form came just to get pictures to say they remained in contact, Lily started crying again until they got pissed off and left – and then she was perfectly happy again. I love my daughter's attitude already.

'No,' was all Joe said, running his hand up and down Lily's back.

Smiling, I walked over and sat on the floor next to the sofa. Lily has fallen asleep on his chest, and he continued to keep his arm over Lily, and he found my hand with his other hand, gently holding it.

'I don't want to let her go,' Joe said to me and I smiled. I knew he was finding it hard in the last three days to actually comprehend Lily was here. He was reluctant to hold her and speak to her, and when I talked to Jake about it when we went for a walk around he said it was probably because Joe never realised what being a Dad actually meant and how tricky it was. For him, it just went from me being pregnant to suddenly a baby who was rushed off, and when Lily was reunited with us he wanted me to hold her constantly. He never wanted to be this withdrawing, but he couldn't help it. Jake told me just to give him time to understand what it meant and one day I'd find him just looking over Lily whilst she sleeps and talking to her and volunteering to do the feeds and the changes. Jake went through the same stages himself. Quite a few others have as well.

'She won't leave,' I whispered to him, and he nodded.

'I am so sorry I didn't hold her as much as you wanted me too in hospital, or feed her or change her or anything.' He gently whispered, gently rubbing Lily's head and the hair she had as she slept on his chest. I held his hand a bit tighter.

'Not your fault, hun, not your fault at all,' I replied back, suddenly jumping when there was a knock at the door. Lily woke up and sounded like she wanted to cry for a second but realised we were around and calmed down almost immediately. Joe tutted slightly, rubbing Lily's back as I frowned at him.

'You expecting anyone?' I asked Joe and he shook his head. I got up, kissing Lily on the forehead and Joe on the lips before I headed towards the door, unlocking it and I saw dark blurry shape on the other side of the door. I opened the door slowly, looking at Joe and Lily –big mistake. I got bombarded with hugs as Crystal and Sky showed themselves in a babble of hugs and congratulations. I looked over at Joe again who just looked slightly concerned as we were still in pyjamas (and some more clothes – both of us sleep in just underwear if we're lucky) which consisted of old trackie bottoms and a baggy shirt. Lily had a rough night, staying up for the vast majority of the early hours. Her not crying, which the midwife said was just her personality but Karla reassured me it was the whole Savant aspect, made the whole thing fifteen times worse. At least if babies cried when they stopped you knew you did something good but Lily was just awake constantly no matter how many times we fed her or changed her or done God knows what else to try and get her to sleep. Joe even tried entering her mind to induce sleep but even that didn't work. Either we had a hella smart child who could already fight off his gift or Joe didn't do it properly.

'Hey!' Crystal said, picking me up slightly and I winced against the pain. 'How are you doing?'

'I'm okay,' I said, crossing my arms. Both Crystal and Sky kicked off their shoes and their coats and scarves – I forgot it was winter out – before looking at me expectantly. 'Are you okay? Don't you have... you know... partners?'

'Yeah, they're just dropping our bags off at the hotel then walking down,'

'I'm guessing you're here to see Lily and not me.' I laughed, walking into the lounge as they followed me. Joe smiled at them, holding Lily's back as she slept on his chest completely unaware of visitors. Both Crystal and Sky aww'd at the baby as I sat down next to Joe on the floor, gently touching Lily's face.

'She is the cutest thing ever,' Sky whispered.

'Is she going to wake up soon?' Crystal asked, sitting on the sofa to the side of where Joe was laying with her.

'Er, she might in an hour or two. She's had a rough night.' Joe whispered, putting his arms around Lily before sitting up, cradling her gently as Lily made a cute little noise and Crystal and Sky lost it.

'Why'd she have a rough night?' Crystal asked.

'She doesn't cry often, and if it does it's to get us into the room and then she stops. Handy, yes, but not when we don't know if she needs anything. She just stayed up for about five hours and we done the entire book, and nothing. Only when we stopped and kind of just sat there with her she fell asleep.' I explained as Joe readjusted her sleeping babygrow, smiling down fondly at her.

'You look brilliant though, Ella.' Sky said, looking me up and down. 'And your daughter is adorable.'

'Do you want to hold her?' Joe asked softly as I got up and sat down next to him. Sky and Crystal looked at us before Sky nodded. Joe got up slowly, handing her over to Sky showing her how to hold our daughter.

'Aww,' was all the girls could say as Joe kissed me.

'Well, they're occupied for a while, should we disappear upstairs,' Joe joked, rubbing my side.

'Behave,'

'I was on about going to bed, what were you on about... oh you naughty girl.' Joe laughed. 'Well, i'm easy.'

'Behave,' I said, kissing him again before looking over to my two best friends, my brothers girlfriends, cooing over my daughter with my perfect fiancé sitting beside me and I knew this is what I always wanted – even if I was so oblivious I nearly gave him up.


	77. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 76 - Joe

**Chapter 76 – Joe**

 **A few weeks later**

Both Ella and I walked through the arrivals hall in Denver International airport, both of us dragging a suitcase, with our rucksacks on, but Ella had a small bag she was holding as well, and I had our small daughter on my hip. Lily had slept through the entire flight – all nine hours – something neither Ella nor I had anticipated as she didn't even sleep through the night. She fell asleep as we reached half altitude on my lap, and slept straight through the turbulence and a rough landing too, only waking up when people started clapping and getting off the plane. Now, Lily was fully awake and looking around everywhere, fascinated by the new scenery. When we were waiting for our luggage, Ella took her off me for a second and took her to a window, showing her the snow that had been falling thick and fast. Eventually, we cleared all security checks and were free to make our way home.

Well, rather, free to try and find Zed and Sky in the arrival halls so they can drive us back to Wrickenridge where we would spend the next ten days. We text them before we boarded the plane and what time we were scheduled to land, but we were stuck in baggage for an hour and a bit with no signal to even text Zed and Sky. Ella had told them telepathically and they both went out to dinner.

'Ella!'

A man called, but it wasn't Zed or Sky. I turned around, and this tall guy with blonde floppy hair ran over and hugged Ella, lifting her up. I frowned, completely confused and extremely jealous and concerned at the displays of affection going on. The only things that stopped me from flipping off was the baby in my arm, sitting on my hip with her head on my shoulder even though she could now hold her head up by herself, Lily couldn't maintain it for long periods, and the fact Ella rolled her eyes at me having noticed the change in my behaviour

'You never text me you little, oh my God, what's that.' The muscle man in black security uniform looked down at Ella's hand he was holding, touching her engagement ring – which I gave to her. Ella shot yet another look over her shoulder, and I knew how irrational I was being.

'Er, yeah, I'm engaged,' Ella said, squeezing his hand back. I swear to God if this is one of her ex's I will go bat shit crazy.

'To who?' The security guy asked me as Ella came over to me hugging my waist as I put my arm around her shoulder, hugging her close. However, Ella gently pinched my waist where she clearly zoned into my thoughts and got irritated I was being so jealous.

'Jonas, you remember Joe, right? Well you said you did. Jake and Quinn's younger brother,' Ella said and the security guy's mouth dropped.

'You're not Joe, you was like four when I saw you last. You have gotten a hell of a lot hotter since then,'

'Subtle, Jonas, I like it.' Ella commented and now I really was confused at the conversation at hand.

 _When I was nineteen I trained him at Maui, he was then deployed to work over here as he can read peoples anxieties and guilt. He is also hella gay, so don't be worried about me cheating on him with you. I'm the one worried about an affair._ Ella told me quickly and I smiled at her.

'Oh my, who is this cute little one?' Jonas said, keeping an eye on me as he went over to Lily. I fully expected her to cry, knowing she hated random people coming up to her and for a second, Lily looked really confused but remained perfectly happy as Jonas touched her face, speaking in that adorable baby language she had learnt from somewhere.

'Our daughter,'

'How has all of this happened since March? Girl, that sister of yours was correct wasn't she?' Jonas said, as he continued to play with Lily. She dropped her toy dinosaur on the floor and Jonas immediately bent over to pick it up, pretending to walk him up my arm before handing it to her, patiently waiting for her to grab the toy with her vice-like grip. Jonas smiled at Lily, as I watched him hesitantly. He remembered me, but I had no recognition of him. If Ella was right, and she was nineteen when they met that means I was nineteen too and was a horrible moody teenager and ignored everyone when I was dragged along to base. So, no wonder why I didn't know him.

'Yeah, she was right. Joe's my Soulfinder, we got drunk at a party the first time I went over and she was the result of that –'

'I heard about the whole Cornwall thing, are both of you alright?' Jonas asked, taking off his mirrored glasses and revealing the soppiest bright blue eyes ever as he continued to play with Lily. Eventually, I just handed her too him and he just looked shocked at the baby who happily looked up at him before examining the rest of the arrivals halls.

'We're both fine now, yeah.' Ella said, gently nodding towards the rest of the security lads who were clearly getting irritated as to why Jonas was talking to us and was now holding our child.

'Um, it's changeover so I'm being moved to departures now, you're in Colorado for how long-'

'Ten days,' I answered.

'I'll text you tonight, Ella, maybe we can meet up for lunch and you better fill me in on this little one,' Jonas said, handing Lily back to me in the gentlest of manners.

'Of course, you go do hard work,' Ella joked back as they brofisted as Jonas put his glasses back on and jogged away, the stream of tourists arriving for the skiing season evacuating a pathway for the security guy.

'You got jealous, you actually got jealous!' Ella laughed, hugging me before going on tiptoes and kissing me softly.

'I thought he was your ex, he was very touchy with you,' I protested as Ella got out a bottle of milk from bag, shaking it before handing it to me. I clipped off the lid, putting it in my back pocket before handing it to Lily, her chubby little hands attempting to hold the bottle but I still had to support it there. She was developing muscles at an odd pace – she could hold her neck up, which normal babies can do around 6-8 weeks, but was struggling to hold a bottle up which most can do at a younger age. However, it was completely normal and nothing to worry about. As the midwife kept saying; savant babies are weird and we just had to let them develop at their own pace and aid them.

'I love you,' Ella said, smiling and shaking her head at me.

'I love you too,' I said but before we could even find our way to the door to leave the arrivals hall, hoping Zed and Sky would be waiting outside for us even though it seemed a stupid move in the middle of a snow storm, another blonde girl ran up to Ella, hugging her. Ella had to quickly steady herself, but hugged Sky back quickly.

'You took bloody ages – Lily has grown up, I don't like it.' Sky said, hugging me as well. It was amazing how I was just accepted as part of their family. One second, I was nothing to them, and suddenly after we came back from Cornwall, Saul was already calling me "son" and I was getting hugs and bro-fists from Ella's brothers. Michael wasn't that easy, obviously, but we got on well now. I suppose Michael only wanted the best for his younger sister, and until I proved I was never going to hurt her and be there for her always he was uneasy. But I earned the title eventually – I knew it was one night we had him over for dinner and Ella had drifted off on the sofa, the pregnancy was getting to her quite a bit and wearing her down. It was then I let Ella lean on me, not moving so I didn't wake her up before I scooped her up and carried her to bed. Michael followed silently, and saw me whispering to her some cringey crap about calling me if she wakes up and hope she sleeps well, before kissing her on the forehead before creeping out of the room, closing the door silently. Only then he realised and since then he's been absolutely brilliant to me and Lily. Sky gently ran her finger over Lily's hand, and she grabbed her finger.

'Good flight?' Zed asked as he finally caught up with Sky, and I noticed all the looks we were getting from passers by in the arrivals halls. Everyone was glaring at us, admiring Zed and I even caught a few looks towards myself. I met eyes with a group of four teenage girls, who all looked away and started laughing.

'Yeah, it was alright,' Ella said.

'Bet she made a Hell of a noise,' Zed said, also fascinated by the toddler.

'Yup – she screamed and cried and kicked off, didn't you Ella.' I said, smiling at Ella as she hit my arm. 'Na, Lily slept through the whole flight.'

'Ha, good girl,' Zed laughed, taking her off me before turning his attention to Ella.

'I'm afraid Mom's got everyone around, pulled out all the old photo albums, as well as all of our old baby toys as well as the new ones she got for Lily and has not stopped smiling since the middle of last week. It's pretty safe to say she is excited.' Zed said and Ella rolled her eyes, groaning as she walked into my chest.

'Well, so much for an early night.' Ella said. 'Earlier we get back, the better right?'

'Earlier she puts away the adorable photos of you in ballet when you were five,' Sky joked and Ella gave her the dirtiest look ever.

'You did ballet when you were five?' I laughed at her.

'Shut up, so did you.'

'It wasn't ballet,' I was in a modern dance class to get me to "socialise" and loose weight – I was a fat toddler so my parents tried every suggestion in the toddler book of growing up to get me to get out and lose weight. Rugby, football, hockey. None worked. Dance was the last option and only when my Mum enrolled me for a six week ballet course I hid under my bed and refused to go. But there was still that one incredibly embarrassing photo of me in a tight tracksuit in en pointe shoes.

'Right, not what you Mum said last week.' Ella laughed and I kissed her head. 'That photo,'

'Ella, don't for your own sake. They've found the home DVD's of you doing ballet after your last surgery.' Zed joked, hitting her arm.

'You better break every speed enforcement to get us home before anyone see's any more of those DVD's,' Ella said, walking quickly out of the door the arrival halls as we all trailed behind her, laughing.


	78. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 77 - Joe

Chapter 77 – Joe

The night eventually rolled around, and I was completely shattered again. I think it was safe to say I get jet lagged pretty badly. Karla had given me melatonin supplements to take as we settle down for the night but it didn't help the first night. I was sitting on the floor, legs out to one side as Ella laid on my lap, looking at her brothers. We were in the corner of the room, Ella in her pyjama's, and me in my joggers and baggy top – I slept in just my boxers but there was no way in Hell I would be showing that around my in-laws to be. However, most of Ella's brothers didn't show any issues with being topless around family as five of the seven had no tops on at all.

Lily had been a massive hit around Ella's family, as they had all seen Lily when she was first born but none of them could break commitments or get the time off work, to see Lily from her first days to now, where she was twenty days old exactly. Time had passed so quickly, and she had grown up too much for my likings. She was already putting on weight at a good speed, getting taller and was acting slightly more independently, like wanting to hold her own bottles and talking in that adorable yet weird language all kids (and Sims alike) do. Ella's brothers treated Lily like a shrine – for them it was their first niece who was born into their family rather than married in. I knew Crystal and Diamond had loads of nieces, but to Xav and Trace they weren't biologically related to them. Lily was. Well, if we discuss biologically, Michael was the only real Uncle on Ella's side, but sometimes genes mean less than people would thing – these guys were all Ella's brothers as much as Michael was. It's the same way that I love my brothers and sisters to pieces, but Randy – my alcoholic, weed smoking misogynistic asshole brother – will never be allowed by me to see Lily or Ella, especially how he treated Ella when he first met her. Randy knew Lily was born, and had probably seen pictures on Facebook or Mum and Dad showed him, but he would never see Lily in person. Jake had also banned him from seeing Amelia and Isla, too. Alcohol was the end of the line, but when he spent a fortune gambling and buying weed we didn't want him around our children.

Lily was currently asleep in Karla's arms, Saul's arm wrapped around her waist and the other on Lily's blanket they had made for her that was wrapped around her.

'She is absolutely beautiful, you two, well done.' Karla said.

'Hang on, why are you congratulating her?' Xav asked, and he was clearly sleep deprived nearly as much as Ella and I were. I had no idea why both he and Crystal were so tired, but it was evident as. 'Are you congratulating her womb on creating Lily, or Joe?'

'Good show, my dears, on creating such marvellous creations from one's body fluids into another humans fairy cave,' Will joked around, putting on a voice. Ella laughed as I just felt slightly awkward. They were a hell of a lot more open than my family was. I would never discuss sex with Carly.

The jokes continued overhead as Ella turned to look at a very pregnant Phoenix who was sitting next to us on a beanbag, Yves on the other side. Phee had just reached the twenty three week boundary, and was looking incredibly huge. I mean, Ella was absolutely tiny through her entire pregnancy and never once showed a bump as big as Phoenix's but still.

'You'll be getting these weird comments soon, hope you well aware of this fact,' Ella whispered to her, and she groaned.

'They don't even make any sense!' She whispered back.

'I know, it's horrific. They always say congratulations on random bullshit too. Only time I accepted them without question was after the labour. Now they're like "oh, she held her bottle up. Congratulations" – what does that even mean?'

'She is absolutely adorable, though,' Phee whispered, looking longingly at Lily.

'Your son will be adorable too.' Ella whispered back as Phee grinned, rubbing her bump.

'Honestly, I just wish my figure will come back as quickly as yours did, and also he hurries up. I'm not holding much hopes – I was also asking for a bump as small as yours,'

'Yeah, but I had a horrifically long labour and major complications because of the way Lily grew – I mean, the small bump was caused by her growing against my spine and those random bleeds and everything then all the mess at labour was because of that. Really, I would have just preferred a big bump and a relatively normal labour,' Ella explained as I played with her hair.

'Well, there's always a next time, isn't there?' Phee asked and I felt Ella freeze up slightly. We always talked about having our family – with the minimum of three children but the idea was growing on us for the whole seven kid thing as it worked out well for both of our parents but since the labour Ella was kind of hinting she didn't want another kid. I didn't blame her. Her pregnancy was absolutely fine, however, the labour was horrific. Long, painful, tiring. Ella lost five pints of blood during birth, Lily's trip to the intensive neonatal because she wasn't breathing. The umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. It could have developed into a tragic death, but worked out fine. But it haunted Ella. She thought because she didn't notice her pregnancy until late it was her fault and she didn't want history to repeat itself. She didn't want to scare Phee of labour, either, so never told her about Lily being born without breathing and the time she was separated from us immediately after. She knew about the bleeds and the blood lost, but not Lily's side of it.

'Oh yeah, there will be a next time just not for a while,' Ella said to her and I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding. Ella looked up at me as I smiled softly down at her. I played with her hair, so thankful she was coming around on the idea despite what had happened to Lily and her the first time around. 'Could be quite a while, though,' Ella said as I gently touched her engagement ring and she nodded.

So, no second child before we got married which we decided would be in about three year's time, then. I could deal with that. Ella yawned, covering her mouth with the back of her hand.

'Ella, darling, you both look shattered. Why don't you go up to bed and we'll look after Lily until she's settled down,' Karla said, still holding our daughter like she was a new leash of life but, in a way, I guess she was. First grandchild, and she's always wanted a daughter and as Ella said she never really cut the mark. Karla was desperate for someone to paint pictures with on the weekend, or read books too before bedtime or make cakes with but Ella was still with her birth family in England when she was the right age to do all of that, and by the time Ella was better after the crash she was about seven and was a bit too socially recluse to want to go shopping, and was more than smart enough to read all the books she wanted too by herself. You can even tell now how proper she was by the way she speaks – her incredibly articulatory tone and the need to use big words where she can despite the desire being unconsciously decided.

Ella looked up at her for a second before rolling back over.

'If you don't mind?' She said softly.

'Of course not,' Karla protested and Ella nodded, jumping up. She handed me her hand before pulling me up.

'You'll all still be here in the morning,'

'Ella, where do you think we're going to be going in the middle of a snow storm?' Vick said softly, and despite him trying to maintain his hard man appearance but he kept looking longingly over at Lily.

'Yeah true,' Ella said. 'Alright then, night guys.' She mumbled, taking my hand.

'Night,' I said gently as I was pulled out the room, trailing Ella as she ran up the first flight of stairs, stopping at the top of the stairs. I nearly ran into her, but caught her in my arms. Gently, I rocked her as she leant against my chest. 'You alright there?' I asked.

'I'm so tired,' She whispered, hugging me. I sighed softly, quickly bending down to pick her up. She laughed gently. 'I totally wasn't hinting,'

'Yeah right,' I kissed her forehead as I carried her up the stairs.

'You better do this on the honeymoon,'

'If I do it at home, or in your parent's home, I'll be doing it in the Maldives or wherever we go, won't I?' I joked, kissing her gently as I climbed up the stairs shocked at how light Ella was. I mean, I had only really known her when she was pregnant. There were only a few days I met her before the engagement party, and by the time she came back from Colorado she was already about ten weeks pregnant with Lily. Whenever I used to carry her like this, I also carried Lily as well. Now, she had lost the majority of the baby weight, and of course lost Lily's weight and placenta and whatever else contribute weight to her small frame and now she was incredibly lightweight it was kind of weird. I noticed that Ella wasn't eating properly, though, as she always felt sick. She told me she felt that way before she was pregnant and it was more getting her into a cycle of actually eating but getting into a regular three-meals-a-day was incredibly tricky with a baby up all types of weird hours.

'Oh, Maldives?' Ella said, wrapping her arms around my neck. I sat down on the edge of her bed, with Ella on my lap as I kissed he softly, biting her lower lip gently. 'I can totally do Maldives,' She said. I laid her down on the bed, gently putting my hand by her head as I kissed her, pulling off my shirt. She linked her arms around my neck, pulling me down slightly. She groaned as we deepened the kiss as my fingers ran over her stomach, slowly up past her ribs to play with the under hem of her sports bra. Her hands ran over my bare chest, before slipping down into my Nike jogging bottoms. Ella moaned slightly as I lifted her shirt off, both of us only breaking the kiss to take her shirt off.

'Are you sure your ready,' I whispered to Ella and she nodded, whipping off her sports bra and throwing it on the floor.

'Yeah,'

'With all your brothers downstairs, as well as your parents and Lily?' I whispered in between kisses.

'Quickly killing the mood here, Joe, of course I'm aware they're downstairs,' Ella said, pushing me back down on top of her, kissing her hard on her lips. She rolled me over, laying on top of me kissing me hard as she pulled down my joggers, pulling me towards her body.


	79. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 78 - Ella

Chapter 78 – Ella

I jumped awake lying in Joe's arms, me in Joe's shirt and him in just his boxers again. After we – you know – we both settled down for the night and had fallen asleep. I had briefly jumped awake when I heard the door to my bedroom open, but it was just Diamond who had a sleeping Lily in her arms where she brought her up to bed when all the brothers had called it a night too. I didn't say much, just watched Diamond gently coo Lily back to sleep where she had briefly resurfaced, before turning around to see me watching her. She softly said she was just putting Lily to sleep, and I nodded as she walked out the room and I fell asleep on Joe's shoulder again. But now, someone else was looking over Lily's travel cot, placed under the window of my old bedroom.

I frowned against the white light coming in through my bedroom window, where the moonlight was reflecting from the snow and straight into the window which had the curtains undrawn like always. I heard Lily's gentle giggles as someone – clearly a man – leant over her cot. I frowned, looking at the man trying to focus my eyes.

'Vick?' I whispered, sitting up pulling the duvet over my chest. Vick, who was just in joggers with his shoulder-length brown hair down, turned around. 'What were you doing?' I hissed.

'I heard Lily making noises, just wanted to make sure she's okay,'

'She's fine; you just wanted to see her, didn't you?' I whispered, and Vick looked over at me.

'I hate the fact you're not stupid and you're quick to click on.' He confessed to me.

'Look away for a second,' I whispered back as he did so, I jumped out of bed and pulled on my running shorts that were tucked under my bed, always in easy reach. I slowly walked up to the crib, next to Vick. Lily looked over at me, holding her feet as she continued to make little giggled.

'She's... cute.' Vick said and I laughed gently, moving slowly to pull up Lily's sleeve of her baby grow where she had pulled it up somehow.

'Ooh, macho language.' I joked with him as he rolled his eyes. Slowly, I bent down into the cot and picked up my daughter, brushing her fluffy newborn hair tousles out of the way. 'Let's not wake Joe up,' I said, walking out the room with Lily in my arms. I walked slowly down stairs, past all the other bedrooms where everyone else slept and down again into the living room. 'You didn't hold her earlier, did you?'

'No,' He said simply and I knew why; he didn't want to show any signs of vulnerability to the brothers, any chink into him that they could laugh about. Vick grew up with the reputation of being stone, so when he did show emotion people tore him apart. The exact same way as I was always happy and bubbly or very emotional so when I went to stone, everyone took the mick out of me for being serious. He wanted to seem completed, but I knew he was vying for time with his niece. I gestured for him to come over to me, and he did as I said as I passed Lily to him.

Both of them looked so happy for a split second, and I felt content. Lily took a few seconds to frown at Vick, obviously wondering who the Hell he was and if he was going to hurt her and I wondered what she would do; anyone who appeared even the slightest bit hostile to her, or unwelcoming, she screamed the place down. But with Vick, the silence lasted a bit longer until she started gurgling again. Vick just looked mesmerised at the baby in his arms, but I noticed the grin.

'You've done well,' was all that Vick said and I frowned at him. And that means? Was that a congratulations in a roundabout way?

'Well, I've done half well – Joe was the other half,' I said and he screwed his nose up.

'I don't want to know about that, Ella, thanks.'

'We did it earlier too,' I laughed as he kicked me, but it didn't hurt. He was too busy focused on Lily. The second his foot made contact with my leg, Lily started grizzling gently but the second the pain stopped on its own, she stopped as well.

'Woah, what did she do there?' Vick asked.

'No idea.' I replied, just amazed at her. When I was in pain, and it was only a minor sting, she was unhappy. I wondered what that could mean but remembered she was only a few weeks old and I couldn't think too much of it. We walked down into the lounge as Cotton woke up, staring at us, before jumping down onto the floor and curling up next to the fire I turned on telekinetically. Vick sat one side of the sofa, gently holding Lily as Lily continued to look up at him in slight uncertainty and I sat the other, lounging out.

'She's just so small,' Vick said, holding Lily as she made a cute little noise.

'Yeah, she is. My vagina didn't say that when she was born though,' I mumbled and Vick rolled his eyes.

'Ella, please,' Vick whispered. 'Was it a hard choice to keep her?' He asked as he held Lily a bit tighter.

'One of the easiest,' I replied back softly and I saw him raise his eyebrow. 'Even though it was by mistake, and neither of us had even _imagined_ something like that happened, I could have never got rid of her. We knew there was a chance we'd struggle, but we didn't and we mastered it okay and we've never regretted her.' I explained, putting my feet up on him as he continued to look at Lily, who didn't look like she was going back to bed anytime soon.

'Didn't commitment scare you?'

'Yup, still does. But it's different. It's, like, natural.' I said and he screwed his nose up. 'Yes, fam, I know it's cringe,' I said ironically. 'You'll find out eventually,' I said, resting my head down on the arm of the settee.

'Is it tiring?' Vick asked and I had a feeling he was asking all his paternal questions now when the mood is sober and no one else was around.

'You have no idea how tiring. You're tired from the whole pregnancy, then tired from labour. You think you can rest then you can't because she's up all hours,'

'I brought her a present,' Vick said softly and I sat up ignoring the now half-dormant pain down below to frown at him. He gently offered me Lily back, and I took her before lying back down and putting her on my chest like I normally do. When realising the snow storm outside was picking up and it was pretty cold already, I pulled the blanket up to the top of Lily's neck, and she started to make content little baby noises and I saw Vick look over at her with a small smile on his face. Watching intently, I saw him go into his backpack across the room and pull out a small pink box with a bow.

'I'm assuming you didn't tie the bow?' I laughed slightly and he grinned.

'Learnt it on YouTube,' He said as he came back over to me, handing it over. 'It's an apology really, for not flying out to see her,' He said and I frowned – he had flown over for three days before Lily was just born but not since then. So he had never seen his niece. Which is acceptable because it's been a few weeks and I didn't expect him too but he's been awkward about the whole thing – he's wanted to stay fully informed but he never wanted to ask too much so whenever he Whatsapped me I sent him pictures and updates so he didn't feel too bad or like he was missing out.

'I never expected you to fly over to England every two weeks, Vick,' I said as he picked Lily up again, naturally wrapping her up in the blanket a bit more. He nodded to the box next to me and I smiled slightly, getting up to open it. I don't think I could be prepared for the cute bundle that was inside – and the idea Vick had picked this out especially for her was incredible.

Vick had clearly gone out of his comfort zone to find something for Lily, even though she would only ever use it his winter in Colorado. Inside was a thick snowsuit which was designed like BayMax from Big Hero 6. I grinned at him, shaking my head slightly at how well Vick knew me.

I never got on well with Vick when we lived together in the family house or when he moved out. He always pushed me to the edge, doing stupid things that I would have never done for the FBI if I had an active choice. He drove me to insanity and back within a week, and every text or phone call from him I used to dread but I still respected him insane amounts. I knew he was doing it to keep everyone safe and he took his job incredibly seriously but he was only doing it all to keep everyone safe.

But within the last year or two he had started to relax slightly and I saw a more chilled version of him; the time we went to a festival together or went to Wagamama's in England and the times I persuaded him to wear jeans. It was like at the time we both relaxed and something clicked and we started to get on well. He understood that I wasn't one of the Benedict boys that were his brothers and I react completely differently and just because I was female I didn't care if I was at risk to help other people. I understood he was doing his job to protect people, and we both wanted the same thing but had different ways to go about it. I think when we realised this at the same time, the work pressure from us both dropped and we could actually enjoy being brother-and-sister like people are supposed to do. He was heartbroken when I moved to England for good, and we always had a constant stream of conversation that carried on as each other slept. It only turned slightly awkward after Lily was born and he wasn't too sure what to do.

'That's adorable, thank you,' I said softly.

'Don't tell the boys I got her something,' Vick said and I nodded. I told everyone not to bother getting Lily anything as everything is wintery at the moment and we simply won't use it. After a few hours of persuasion, I convinced them. 'They'll tear me to shreds,'

'Might do you some good,' I joked quietly, folding back up the snowsuit. 'She's wearing that tomorrow,'

'Make sure you get a photo – the boys at office won't believe me,' Vick said, holding Lily carefully. 'They don't quite believe you had a baby either,' Vick mumbled and I just shrugged, lying back down slightly completely shattered from a mixture of waking up early, Lily's restlessness and jet lag. The silence filled the room for another five minutes as I silently pulled Joe's phone – which was still on the coffee table from earlier – and took a photo of Vick holding Lily and smiling down at her – and sent it to him on Joe's Whatsapp. Very slowly, I laid back down on the settee and drifted off to the howling sounds of the snow storm outside, and the soft murmurs of a very content daughter.

 _Hey! It's been a long time since I updated this! I deleted a chapter early that was more of an annoucement and I've had several messages from people expecting chapters but found none so I quickly rushed this one through so please ignore any spelling or grammar mistakes! Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. What do we all think of Ella and Joe's relationship? And Lily? :D_


	80. (Releasing Joe) Chapter 79 - Ella

**Chapter 79 – Ella**

'Come on then, love,' Joe said to me standing by the front door, all decked up in his thermals, coats and walking boots promptly borrowed from Xav. He looked like an idiot, with his thermal base layers under jeans, and a shirt on top, and a hooded jumper and then a thick coat. He smiled at me, his hair going everywhere as he held Lily to his side, in her Baymax snow suit Vick had brought her and gave to me in the early hours of this morning. Lily wasn't asleep though and was just up, happily making baby noises to herself. I ran down the stairs, sticking on my Nike Tanjun shoes and double knotting the laces, before grabbing the baby bag down the bottom of the stairs. It was already packed full of nappies, baby wipes, bottles of milks, Lily's dinosaur toy and a baby grow.

'Let's go then,'

'No. Put a coat on.' Joe protested. I heard Vick snigger in the living room.

'I don't need a coat,'

'Put your coat on.' Joe argued with me and Lily made a cute gurgling noise that sounded like a laugh.

'I don't own a coat,' I lied, putting the baby bag over my shoulder. Joe walked over to me, handing Lily over to me. 'What are you doing?'

'Then you can wear my coat.' Joe said taking off his coat.

'No, fine, whatever, give me a second then,' I protested passing over Lily to Joe again as he grinned at me, pausing to kiss me.

'I'll give you something Joe, you've managed to do something none of us have done in over fourteen years – and that's to get Ella to wear her bloody coat.' Vick called from the lounge and I gave him a mental middle finger gesture. Joe just laughed slightly, and Lily gurgled as I grabbed my coat, equipped with the tags it was brought with over five years ago. I snapped the tags off and shrugged it on, doing the zip up before grabbing the bag. I walked over to Joe, kissing him before picking up the bag again, throwing the bag over my shoulder.

'See you later,' Joe called as we walked out of the door. We paused for a second, not bothering to lock the door as we both started to walk down into the town. Lily immediately started watching the snow falling, her eyes darting all over the place, tracking a snowflake until it disappeared out of view before she found another snowflake.

'You know, a year ago I was just expecting to be part time at Maui and now look,' Joe said softly as we walked down the hill leading into town. There were no cars – most had been snowed off road in the snow storm last night so it was safe to walk in the road. I frowned at him. 'Got my beautiful Soulfinder who's agreed for some reason to marry me, and this little one.' He bounced Lily up slightly onto his hip and the baby looked at him. Lily held her hand out and touched his face. 'I don't know where I would be without you two,'

'I don't know what I would be doing without you,' I said to Joe, walking over to his side and putting my hand in his pocket. He gently put his hand around my shoulder, pulling me into his side. We walked into town in silence, just appreciating what we had come through. We didn't need words to realise what he had.

'Oh, Starbucks,' Joe said jokingly.

'You didn't have your morning coffee, did you?' I joked, holding his hand. He grinned down at me, about to say something but got interrupted.

'Ella!' I heard someone call from across the street and I immediately frowned, trying to focus on where the voice came through. The streets and roads were full of people playing in the heavy snow, younger kids being pulled around on sleighs and the older ones having snowball fights. 'Ella!' The person called again and I finally noticed who it was.

Tina and Zoe came running across the parking lot we had ended up on, skidding on the snow before standing in front of me. They circled around me, leaving Joe and Lily slightly out of it. Joe frowned at me.

'Where have you been?' Tina asked me, hitting me in my arm. She hadn't really changed since the last time I saw her quite a while ago – about seven months I guess. 'You just disappeared; Sky said you moved to England?'

'You didn't even tell us!' Zoe said, pushing her hair from her face.

'I've been incredibly busy – I did mean too,' I mumbled realising that I had completely forgot to Whatsapp them. I ran my hand through my hair.

'What have you been so busy with you couldn't even text us – what is that?' Tina begged before noticing my engagement ring on my finger. Suddenly, both Tina and Zoe's eyes were transfixed on it. I pulled my hand away and shoved it in my coat pockets. I made an appreciative sound in my head – coats have good pockets. Unlike jeans.

'Are you – engaged?' Zoe asked in shock.

'Er, yeah, meet Joe,' I said, moving to hold Joe's hand. He smiled at me softly, but I noticed his slightly raised eyebrow at the chance encounter – either that or he wondered why I was such a bad person and didn't text them. 'And, er, Lily – our daughter.' I said, as Lily giggled slightly before looking at Joe as he kissed her forehead and I smiled at her.

'What!' Tina yelled.

'Let's go get coffee, shall we?' I said, taking Joe's hand and walked into Starbucks, the two girls trailing us.

'He's cute,' Tina said to me, looking over at Joe who was at the barista bar getting our drinks and warming up Lily's bottle. I sat Lily on my lap, her head leaning against me as she was getting a bit more rowdy as it was past her meal time. I noticed Tina and Zoe kept looking between the child on my lap, me, and Joe. 'Very cute,'

'And engaged,' I said to her, raising my eyebrows.

'How did all of this happen – is she adopted?' Zoe asked, nodding to Lily. I shook my head. Understandable, though. They last saw me seven months ago and I was completely flat then, before the whole Cornwall bomb thing kicked off. I didn't know I was pregnant – so how could she?

'Nope, she's mine. Ours, really. I gave birth a few weeks ago – bloody painful I _really_ don't recommend.' I laughed as Lily rested against me. Joe looked over his shoulder as me, smiling softly as he turned back to the barista who came over to talk to him for a second. I knew the girl who was serving his was flirting but he didn't even notice.

'How?' Zoe asked, looking at the baby.

'Er – remember when I went with Sky and the girls to Cornwall on holiday. We went to a party with him, and we had a one night stand basically. I fell pregnant with this little one, came back for a few months and had no signs whatsoever. I didn't even know –' of course I realised I couldn't tell them the whole story, they have no idea what Savant's are, they think I'm Yves' twin. 'I went back to Cornwall for a summer placement with a university programme. I met Joe again, and I fell incredibly ill. I, er, fell down an old mine shaft and was operated on. I wasn't allowed to fly. Joe and I were together at this point, found out about Lily, and I wanted nothing more than to keep her. We got engaged, got our own home in England. Lily was – is – premature but she was born perfectly healthy. She wasn't due until the middle of January, but was born beginning of December,' I explained to the girls, and they both looked shocked. 'More by fluke she was okay, she had a few breathing problems but they'll clear up in time,'

'How'd you parents take it – your brothers? I bet Yves flipped,'

'Nope, they were all okay with it. Mom was a bit temperamental at first, had some serious words with me and then with Joe. Yves was completely fine with it.' I explained as Joe brought over the tray of drinks – three coffees, a hot chocolate for me and Lily's bottle of milk, heated up. I took the bottle, shaking it slightly, testing the temperature of the milk before gently offering Lily the bottle. Sure enough, she took it and started to drink the bottle.

'What do you do, Joe,' Tina asked him and Zoe leaned forward.

'Er, just a psychologist,' Joe lied, putting his hand on my knee, before pulling down Lily's hood.

'How old are you?'

'Twenty one,'

'Oh, so you're older.'

'Er –' Joe frowned at me, realising he might have slipped up. He knew the lies that I live under in Colorado but didn't know how to copy them. If you live a lie so long, you know how to sing the tune perfectly. If your significant other sat you down and welcomed you into the maze that was their high school life, you just had to do your best.

'A bit,' I replied for him, shrugging. I handed over Lily to him; he took her grateful for a reason to back out of the conversation. The second he had hold of Lily he had that small smile on his face he always had, and it melted my heart. My phone vibrated in my pocket and I pulled it out, keeping it under the table not to seem rude. An email waited from Susan. I opened it up.

 _Hi Ella and Joe,_ the email started.

 _I hope you are having a good time in Colorado with the little one, and of course your well deserved maternity/paternity leave too. I understand that you may not want to receive work related emails whilst you are still with your baby in the very early days but I got some brilliant news for both of you – mainly Ella. The government had found a strong correlation between the deception work you are able to do and how many people it can put behind bars that are guilty of crimes, compared to standard interviews. This is a massive step forward from those individuals who thought what you did was just a pack of lies. The government are funding the first deception unit on base for Savant-related crime and they have personally requested you to be in charge. I explained the maternity situation, and they expressed the new centre, located to the rear right of the Maui Headquarters, and would not be open until you come back in the best care scenario. We understand that, job wise; this would just be a location move for you. On your contract, you were hired for deception and detection work but we would like you to see this as a promotion. The contact, which we will discuss in persons when both you and Joe are free – of course you'd have Joe as your partner – will be flexible and will be able to mould around Lily's life as she gets older and attends school and so on and would be fully flexible if you wish to extend your family even further in the future. Not only that, it goes without mention that you two can hire whom you like and deem suitable for the job – whether that's family and friends or others, we trust you too._

 _It's a brilliant opportunity and a step forward for Maui and, hopefully, for you three._

 _Susan xx_

The email was signed off and I looked at my phone with a dropped jaw and the words "holy shit" continuously running through my mind. Until recently – well, until now – no one believed that you could work out emotions without the Savant gift to do so but just by watching people. I had taught myself how to do it and therefore knew if Joe was annoyed or surprised, or if Lily was upset before either of them made gestures. But now, the Government were funding the own little centre for it? And they wanted me and Joe to be in charge? Holy shit.

'You alright love?' Joe asked, noticing what I was doing under the table.

'Just a text from your cousin, look,' I said, handing my phone over to him. He frowned, looking at the recipient of the email before reading the text. I was fully aware that Tina and Zoe were on the other side of the table, just watching us.

 _Holy shit,_ Joe said to me telepathically.

 _I know!_

 _You going to take it?_ He asked, handing my phone back nodding so the girls didn't realise something was up.

 _It's a joint thing – it's me and you. We need to discuss it properly but I mean... I want too... do you?_

 _Of course I want too!_ He replied back to me straight away, grabbing my hand under the table and rubbing my thumb, Lily more than content finish off her bottle. The combination of Joe being so tall and having proportional limbs and Lily being so small but being a Savant meant she was developing fast meant Joe could hold her with the top of his arm and gently support the bottle, Lily's chubby hands holding the bottom of it.

'You both okay?' Zoe asked, and I nodded. Very good indeed.

The door to the Costa went, but I immediately looked up recognising the general body language of two people out of the corner of my eye. Zed and Sky had walked into the coffee shop and spotted us at the back bench, and immediately came over.

'We were looking for you,' Sky said to me as we budged up, so Sky could sit next to Zoe and Tina, whilst Zed sat on our side of the bench.

'Anything important?'

'Mom fussing over the baby,' Zed said, rolling his eyes as Joe passed Lily to him.

'Again?'

'I don't think she's ever going to stop, El, but at least you were included in her panic this time,' Sky added in, 'She did not have this yesterday,' Sky said, gently pulling up the hood of Lily's snow suit. 'That is too cute,'

'Vick got her it,' I said. 'Why was I being panicked about?'

'Cause you shouldn't be out walking in snow when you gave birth a few weeks ago,' Zed gave me a slightly odd look like it should have been obvious and I groaned.

'I went for a run four days after giving birth, I'm good,'

'You did what now?' Joe asked and I pulled a face.

'Nothing love,'

'You went for a run?'

'No,' I covered up quickly.

'Eleanor,' Joe said, touching my leg as everyone else laughed but I knew he was concerned but trying to pull it off like it was a joke. He knew I was overly concerned about how I looked after I gave birth and whilst everyone thought it was a seemingly meaningless comment; to Joe it indicated that I wasn't coping too well post-natal. He was concerned, terrified even, that I would suffer from post natal depression due to my mental health illnesses before but so far it seemed all okay up in there and I knew we had the type of relationship where I could talk to him about these things and it would all be okay but he thought I was holding back. He knew how much I trusted him but he was scared I was holding back so he wouldn't worry.

'Joseph,' I replied back, smiling, but squeezing his hand like I was telling him I was fine. He frowned slightly and I nodded to tell him I am okay. He then nodded once and added the subject to a follow up list for later.

I looked down at Lily, who was still sitting watching everyone intently, and once she had finished staring at everyone for a few minutes each she started the rounds again. I smiled at her, gently putting my hand on her lap as she made a cute noise. I don't know what I would have done with her. I looked over at Joe, who had put his arm around my shoulders when Zed had so much as mentioned a run and I leaned in to him, curling up slightly. I don't know what I would do without either of them.


End file.
